A Cobalt Soldier: A Second Chance
by pvt church rvb
Summary: Set after recreation, Church has been given a human body and has decided to make a difference in the galaxy but what will happen when his past come back to haunt him and threatens to bring his hard work crashing down.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok I'm just gunna say it starts off after reconstruction.**

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He still couldn't believe his luck, then again after so much bad luck church did deserve a bit of good luck, he had known once he entered the Meta's suit he would be destroyed by the E.M.P pulse and he had excepted this as his fate, he now he knew he was just a copy of the director a man who tortured and segmented him only to dump him in a back water, useless and boring canyon. Church had excepted his fate, so he was very surprised to find out the Meta had make some very interesting additions to his armour that Wash had not realised, the Meta with the help of Delta no doubt, had procured E.M.P shielding equipment, Delta must have realised what Wash was going to de, maybe even before Wash did himself.

When the E.M.P activated, most of the Meta's systems went offline but the shielding kept the core system functional like the A.I chips, but not the suits other systems so the Meta's suit locked up effectively locking him in place unable to move, so church had to wait in the Meta's armour until someone or something that had the room for a full A.I turned up, and in that time the fragments wouldn't stop talking amongst them selves, but after some time it was Delta who was the first that directly spoke to church, Delta was the A.I church was most likely to communicate to, Delta asked many many questions which were a collection that all the A.I fragments as decided they wanted to ask, "how do you feel" was the first Question and after getting an approving answer of "nice to be alive, kinda", after this answer Delta let lose a barrage of questions, and the A.I fragments were becoming more and more aggressive with the questions demanding answers when Church didn't have the answers, in the end it was Delta who was keeping the other A.I fragments from trying to combine with Church but he was only one A.I fragment against many, and eventually the others got past his fire walls and tried to attach them selves to Church.

But salvation had arrived as the first of many soldiers began to enter the freelancer facility, and Church took his chance and jumped into one of there suits hoping for the best, but he didn't leave before thanking Delta, the green A.I simply nodded his head as Church escaped the Meta's body, the soldier he ended up in was a man named Gavin Jones and he was a British soldier who had been briefed like all the others about what the facility stored, he kept calm and took Church to his superiors who then took Church to there command.

Church spent a week inside Joneses A.I slot, the British solder was a lot like Church, he to hated most of his squad mainly because they couldn't pronounce his name right, be unlike Church he could fight at least reasonably well, through the week Church and Jones became friends which was strange for Church, the only person he had ever considered close to being a friend was Tucker, wash or Tex, but with tucker it was more of a forced friendship mainly because they were both stuck in the same canyon for years and partly because it was nicer talking to him then Caboose, Wash was ok and he did tell church about him being the Alpha but also used him to distract the Meta even if there wasn't another solution he still left Church for dead and then there is Tex, Church and Tex's relationship wasn't what you would call functional but in a way it seemed right, all the time Church was in Blood Gulch the only thing that made it bearable was the Fact he got to see Tex again, even if it was all programmed and designed for them to be together and love each other, it was still something Church cherished but she was gone now she died or was corrupted or what ever in that pelican crash he robotic body had no A.I in it.

Jones was different, Church actually liked him and chose to stay in his A.I slot, and surprisingly Jones like Church to, they would talk about past adventures and it turned out Jones had met Caboose and unfortunately shot Church with a Stun pistol when he was in his floaty ball body, but Church let it go, its not like it had any ill effects, on the Sunday Church was called to an off site facility ware he would meet some high up guy in the military who was apparently talking to the director and had found a way to convict him he was a commissioner or something, Church though he heard the word sub comity chairmen at one point but didn't really care, he just wanted to do something, knowing he was an A.I had changed his perspective on life well as close to life as he was, he wanted to make a difference he wasn't just some asshole in a canyon put there because the army didn't think he was worthy to fight, hell when he though about it he wasn't even given proper training, then again those might just be fake memory's, Jones now stood in front of the chairmen guy Church standing on Joneses shoulder looking at the man.

"have you been told why you are here Alpha" the chairmen asked

"he prefers Church, he's kinda sensitive about it" Jones replied before Church could speak

"the A.I had preference, I was right, the Alp-. Church is not just an A.I but an A.I fully in the Meta stage, he if considered fully human and shall be treated as such from now on" the chairmen stated

"so I'll be treated like a human now, sweet" Church commented, the chairmen smiling at the cobalt A.I.

"and now, you have a choice" the chairmen began "this facility is filled with what remains of project Freelancer, the armour the data the equipment, all of it put tom rest, but we have found something I think you would be interested in" he lifted up his hand hand made a **come here **motion.

At the chairmen's command a forklift moved up and lowered a cylindrical metal tube about a meter wide and two and a half meters high, almost on cue once it touched the ground a door slid open showing what was inside, at first what was inside was concealed behind a thick mist that escaped into the air as the door opened, Jones swatted his hand at the mist moving out of his face.

"that stuff stinks" he muttered holding his nose

"its times like this I'm glad I don't have a nose" church chuckled

"ugh" Jones sighed and then gasped when he saw what the cylinder contained, as the mist faded they stood a body, it was held up by straps at its wrists and feet and singe straps around its waist and neck, the body had ink black hair and light blue eyes which were open and were creeping Jones out, the body was muscular but not extremely, the muscles were outlined but not excessive, the face had sharp and hansom features with light stubble coving its cheeks and chin, the most disturbing thing was the body was completely naked from head to toe, there was what looked like a tattooed number on the right shoulder but Jones couldn't make out what the number was.

Church's A.I hologram stood up straight and looked at the body his helmet moving up and down examining the body. "is this what I think it is" he asked.

"well if you think it is a clone of the director of project freelancer that is not exact, and is capable of holding an artificial intelligence in it. Then yes you are right" the chairmen said nodding to someone standing behind Jones, Jones turned and suddenly saluted the man that stood before him, the man had greyish black hair with white sideburns, he wore a suit of steel coloured armour with yellow trim, his face looked worn and he had a slight limp as he walked over, he stopped when he saw Church standing on Joneses shoulder and adopted a face of regret.

"Wash" Church asked.

"yes, agent Washington was able to give us vital information of what happened in the project after we recovered him from the freelancer HQ, he also helped us in the discovery of this clone" the chairmen stated

"well, I guess I cant get mad about sacrificing me to the meta and that E.M.P pulse now can I" Church said he tone showed signs of annoyance but also joy.

"its...good, to see you made it our, I guess the Meta taking Delta was a good thing huh" Wash replied his once sad face now had signs of happiness at Church's words.

"now I don't mean to be rude but what can you tell me about this body I mean I can use it right" Church said.

"ok, well it a close of the director but it isn't exact, not everything about a person is in the DNA, some of it is chance and some is up to ware the person was raised so there are some differences like while the close looks similar to the director it isn't the exact same and more obviously the eyes are not green like Carolinas, they are blue" Wash continued "it is also designed to hold an A.I unit and turn its electrical signals into the electrical impulses that the brain uses, effectively turning an A.I into a human, the body breaths, eats uses the toilet, bleeds and can take damage, more importantly the processes means once the body gets old and dies the A.I will die with it the electrical impulses ceasing to function effectively deleting the A.I from existence"

there was silence as Jones and Church took in the information, Jones had spent enough time talking to Church that he knew Church wanted to be human, wanted to make a difference, and a human body would help, giving him a face, that would give him the ability to live his own life.

"so" church said pausing before continuing turning his helmet from wash to the body "how to I get in there"

"I would have though you would want to think about it" the chairmen said

"yeah well, I cant think with out a mind a brain, not properly so I would really appreciate having a body thanks" Church replied, seemed agitated at the chairmen's question like all he wanted was to be in the body.

"there is one more thing Church" Wash said getting Church's attention "this body is now the property of the U.N.S.C so if you take the body you will technically become the property of the U.N.S.C again, at least for a while"

"a while" Church asked.

"until we can be sure you are different from the director and that you wont get into trouble" the chairmen began "if you chose to use this body you will have a few choices and all of them consist of staying in the army, and all of them have a handler with you who will stay with you until a time we see you as fit to leave our care"

"more like custody" church muttered trying to think.

"its not like that, its just you are a copy of a very hated man, who did terrible thing, and the U.N.S.C just want to make sure your not like him" Wash said

"you do know most of the terrible stuff he did was to me right" Church said, not amused.

"that doesn't change anything, now what do you say" the chairmen asked.

"ok...ok...I'm ready for a second chance at life" church said

"all you have to do is move inside it, and it should automatically transfer you into it" wash said

"ok but before I do, why did the director make the clone" church asked leaving Joneses A.I slot and slowly moving towards the body.

"I think he made it for you, so you could be human one day, I guess he made it before he did what he did to you" wash said as church now stood only inches away from the body.

"here goes nothing" he said and moved into the body.

The transition was quick, as he sat up his vision was white and it hurt when he opened his eyes, the sudden realization that he was in a real human body struck him and felt a rush of adrenalin coarse threw his system and his vision cleared, he was sitting up on a bed in a white room, to his right sat an asleep Jones, he had a magazine on his lap and his eyes hidden under a U.N.S.C military hat, the room as a strange feel to it, which sent a chill up church's spine, all the feeling of being in a human body still rushing threw him, he moved his feet to the side and let them touch the floor the cold touch to his skin surprised him, Church was wearing a hospital gown and nothing else, he stood up and immediately fell to the floor face first. "son of a bitch" me said as he rubbed his chin, he turned at the sound of Jones laughing as felt his arms grab Church's shoulders and pull Church back onto his feet and held him there until Church had gotten his balance.

"thanks" church began "so urrr how long was I out"

"two weeks, you needed time to fully sync with your new body" Joneses British accent was even more clear when heard with real ears.

"ware's was or that chairmen guy"

"they'll be here in around an hour, they come by every day around the same time to see if you've woken up"

"what about you, how long have you been here" church asked rubbing the back of his neck.

"well since iv been giving a new assignment iv been here mostly, I mean iv left to eat and sleep but been here for most of the two weeks" Jones replied giving a smiled, and it was only now Church realised Jones had a small beard ware he hadn't shaved.

"what's the new assignment" Church asked curiously.

"I'm you handler, looks like we'll be spending some time together huh, I think they wanted to give you someone you liked" Jones replied

"they were right" church said and Jones smiled "but if they wanted to give me someone I liked then why did they put you with me" the smiled on Joneses face dropped and Church chuckled.

"I'm only kidding, I'm glad they chose you" church said and Jones chuckled as he glanced at Church's gown.

"Wash dropped off some cloths last time he was here, said they should fit you" Jones dropped a pair of underwear, socks, a pair of light blue jeans and a white top with the U.N.S.C acronym and emblem on the left of the chest.

Church picked up and cloths and Jones left the room to let Church change, once changed Church walk/stumbled out the door of the room and stopped next to Jones, after changing and walking around a bit Church was getting used to his new body and an hour quickly came and went, they were walking around in the garden part of the hospital, Church smelling the flowers when wash and the chairmen walked up.

"ah, there you are, were been looking for you, come on lets talk inside" the chairmen rasped as he let Church and Jones into a conference room.

"how are you feeling Church" Wash asked

"oh I'm pretty good was" church smirked at the ex-freelancer and wash smirked back "I feel fucking amazing, I'm alive wash how do you think I feel"

"I should have guessed the answer huh" he replied

"yeah you should have" Church replied

"mister church" the chairmen began "you have two choices, you can either stay here for a year or go off the military training for six months, in both mister Jones will accompany you"

Church though long and hard on this question, he was finally alive and able the do things, did he really want to join the army again, he tried it once and he ended up in a back water canyon but that wasn't his fault, and the idea of fighting for humanity against aliens didn't sound to bad, much better then sitting around on his ass all day in a hospital.

"I'll do training for six months, hell I'll probably join up afterwards anyway" Church said smiling and wash had a look of shock on his face.

"you actually want to train, to be a soldier, a proper soldier" Wash's mouth hung wide open.

"yeah, I do" Church replied

"ok then, you and mister Jones will ship out to training base on earth in one week, good luck gentlemen" the chairmen then turned and walked away leaving Wash standing there.

"one week, ok, what armour will I be using" Church asked

"the armour you had before, you already know how to use it, why not keep using it" Wash replied "and Jones can have a suit of armour to, we have plenty spare from project freelancer" Wash then walked of following in the chairmen's direction.

Church turned to Jones and smiled, Jones returned the smiled and they went to get food, Church eager to see what eating was like.

After a few days there armour arrived, church's cobalt armour and Joneses armour, Jones was very pleased with this new protection, it was very high tech and way above what he would be given normally, his armour was dark red like a red wine, with cobalt details, he had a CQB chest with EVA shoulder his helmet was the same as church's a mark IV. They used the few days they had left at the hospital getting used to their armour, church had never noticed because he was in a robotic body but the suits were very comfortable and they increased a persons speed and strength considerably, but just how much they weren't sure of yet, once the week was up the duo was shipped off to the training base, at first the other marines didn't like church or Jones, the marines in training didn't have fancy armour like they did only the standard issue body armour which didn't grant the strength and speed boost or had as much protection as the armour Church and Jones had.

But there were a few who like Church and Jones, mainly some guys who had ODST armour that had been given to them by a private contractor, probably to show its effectiveness, to begin with the training was minor they would run drills and Church found himself saluting, marching and following orders. It surprised Church that he was coping with this new change, he was slowly going from a wannabe soldier to a proper one but he still had a long way to go, after the first month they began hand-to-hand combat drills ware they marines in training would fight each other learning new moves and ways of blocking and also how to use their combat knives, church didn't have a combat knife slot on his armour so Jones got one for him and attached it to his amour on the left side of this chest plate the handle facing down so he could grab it easily.

The training was going well so far, the superiors were slowly becoming less and less strict as the soldier became more and more disciplined and Church had become the most disciplined of them all, following every order and saluting every superior, it had become second nature to him now, but Church became very worried when they stopped training in close quarter combat and began to train with fire arms, Jones reassured Church whenever possible knowing from his story's he was a terrible shot, before the proper training began Jones decided to give him a few lesion just to get him to a normal understanding so church could hit the target, because of this when the training finally began Church could hold the weapon's properly and had a rudimentary understanding of how they functioned with basic skills of field striping them, but with the training church became an ace shot with the sniper and was not to be messed with when he had a battle rifle but above all, he was perfect with the The M6C/SOCOM or better known as the **M6S, **when church first got his hands on this ODST weapon he knew it was made for him, the weight felt gust right in his hands and build in silencer and muzzle brake were perfect, and the torch was an added bonus, whenever they did training exercises church would always pick it while everyone else picked the standard magnum even the marines in ODST armour preferred the standers version.

In the six months church had spent at the training base he had been disciplined, trained to fight with his hands and guns alike and he and Jones were now as close as brothers, they knew what each other were going to do in combat and could guess what the others next move would be allowing them to work in a completely synchronized way, they were the best the base had trained in that six months, but the six months were over now, Church and Jones were leaving, the ODST armoured marines who had liked them were moving off to start advanced training with some others who were joining up with the ODST's, Church now stood in his bunk house the only one still packing as everyone else as already felt taking their stuff with them, despite the hard work and the drills this had been the best time of Church life, even if it technically was the first thing he had done in his life, Church heard a grunt behind him and turned to see the chairmen with Jones and Wash standing behind him, church instantly saluted the man who smiled.

"You have done well corporal church" the chairmen rasped.

"C-corporal" Church stuttered surprised.

"well if you choose to accept our next offer" Wash butted it.

"and what's that" Church asked amazed they would give him the rank right out of training.

"were making a squad, one that will work on specific missions for the U.N.S.C, we need good people and good people means people we can trust, and with you being who you are i believe you can be trusted, if you choose to join you will be second in comand of thi squad the Sargent leading you is called Shepard" the chairmen said smiling as he spoke.

"is Jones going to be in this special task force" church asked motioning to Jones

"well we were planning on giving you the choice to pick who you would want to take with you from training but i guess who you would pick, yes, private Jones will be accompanying you in this group" the chairmen replied

"ok I'll do it" church said smiling and sent a nod to Jones.

"good, you and Jones will now come with us to meet the rest of the squad and see how you all work together to fight" the chairmen replied.

After Church and Jones were fully packed and ready to go, they took off in a pelican, they went straight up and landed in the landing bay of a large ship with the words, **Excalibur.** On the side. Once they landed Wash took them to meet there squad, they entered a large room that over looked a training floor, now church realised what this ship used to be, this ship was once named the **mother of intervention.** The directors ship for project freelancer. In the room stood five figures, three of them women and two of them men, one of them men stood looking through the glass at the training room, while the other stood straight up right and was saluting Wash, church presumed he was Shepard, two of the women sat on a bench talking and using there phones, while the third stood checking over a rifle.

As the others noticed that Church, Jones and wash had walked in they stood in a line and saluted, church saluted back along with Jones while Wash simply stood there out ranking them all.

"ok listen up" Wash began "these are your final squad mates, get to know them, hopefully they will be with you for a long time" that last but sent a slight shiver down Church's spine but he shook It off.

Wash then left the room leaving Church and Jones with there squad, who were walking over to them, "Hi, I'm staff sergeant Shepherd" the man who had been saluting first said reaching out his hand, and as church shook his sergeants hand he got a good look at his face, he had greyed hair and had a worn face and eyes that had seen a lot of battle, he must have been around fifty, then the other man who had been looking at the training floor, shook church and Joneses hands smiling. "Hi, I'm lance corporal scot first names Jason" Jason had dark brown hair and grey eyes, he looked young maybe the same age as Jones which was around twenty one, then the women walked over the first had brown hair, blue eyes and a pretty face, she had been one of the women on the bench with her phone. "hey, I'm lance corporal Beth, my first name is Alana" she said shaking Church and Joneses hands, next was the other women who had been on the bench, she looked older then Alana, but not by much, they looked very similar and shared the same hair colour but her eyes were a dark brown, "Hi, I'm lance corporal Beth my first name is Alessa I'm Alana's older sister" Alessa explained shaking Church and Joneses hands.

Lastly was the women who had been checking over the rifle she had fiery red hair and emerald green eyes she reminded Church of Tex but Tex had harder features, was as this women had soft features and stood with her hip out and her hand resting against it, even through her body armour it was clear she was well endowed the two large bumps very prominent under her breast plate, she smirked as she shook Church's hand. "I'm lance corporal hawthorn, first names Ashley, nice to meet you" she said.

Church smiled back, Ashley was very beautiful with a very small amount of eye liner and eye shadow, Church let himself relax as he spoke. "I'm corporal Church, first names Leonard, this is my buddy" Church motions to Jones who smiled to the group. "he's private Jones, his first name is Gavin, you may be thinking why is a private in the group, will he be good enough, well I can assure you, he is more then ready"

"hello chaps" Jones said letting his British accent fully flow getting a few smirks from the others.

"I take it your my second in command then" Shepard asked

"that's correct Sir" church replied, letting his training kick in replying with Sir.

"well you seem to be a good guy, but I don't know how you fight, hell I don't know how any of you fight so, were gunna do some training down on the floor, I hope the private can keep up" Shepard said and Jones looked a bit annoyed at the comment and was ready to prove himself.

"you lead the way, Sir" church said letting the Sarge go first then rest of the squad following behind him.

Once they made it to the floor they all stood in the middle in a line in front of the sarge.

"ok, well see how you all do against some bots, and then we'll do some hand-to-hand combat, then to finish off we'll be going to a forest on a near by planet for some paint ball, ware I'll get to see your tactical prowess" Shepard turned to church. "I'm hoping for good thing from you Church"

"you wont be disappointed Sir" Jones said before Church could reply.

The sarge look annoyed at the interruption but let it go. "we'll see"

the others left the training floor leaving Church to fight the bots first, he had his sniper on his back with his M6S attached to his hip, there was a shot gun and battle rifle on a gun rack on the wall in case he needed a new weapon, and an ammo chest next to them if Church ran out of ammo, Church stood in the middle of the room his sniper in his hands and held against his shoulder aimed at the door the bots came out of, there was a creaking and the sound of metal against the metal, the bots, suddenly church's motion sensor picked up enemy's behind him. "shit other door" he cursed turning to see bots pouring into the room with there stun guns raised, Church raised his sniper after truing around and took aim as the Bots fired.

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**Hey guys, this is a kinda new thing for me, I don't normally do a third person story, but now I'm doing it, I kinda like it, iv taken inspiration from the story Cobalt army written by firerwolf, she is a very good writer and makes some amazing story's, this story will not be the same as cobalt army you can be assured of that, and don't worry the others from blood Gulch will be here two you just have to give it time, any way that's it from me, Church out. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, I'm writing this right after the last chapter so if you have commented it will be answered in the next chapter, also I would recommend checking out the trilogy call Silent Gulch made by firerwolf, that trilogy is so good they should make a movie/video game about it, no joke.**

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The stun gun fire blast over church's head Church narrowly ducking the shots, he rolled to the side and fired three shots hitting three different bots, one in the shoulder, one in the chest and another in the head disabling all three of them, he changed to his side arm putting his sniper on his back and pulling up the M6S putting the other bots in his sights, he fired five shots hitting a few of the bots in the legs sending them to the floor but not disabling them, the bots behind fell over there fallen companions scrambling to get back up, the limited cover was going to be a problem, he could only dodge for so long, he scanned the room while the bots were detracted and his eyes rested on the ammo chest, sure it held ammo but it was bullet proof so it had to be stun gun proof, Church made a run for the chest sliding to a stop behind it and reaching up for a pulse grenade, there was only one and Church wasn't about to waist it, he peered around the chest and saw the bots moving in on his position, a sniper as much as he loved it, wasn't the gun for close quarter combat, Church dropped the sniper and held to his M6S and pulled the combat knife from its holster on his chest, as the bots came closer Church made his move, as a bot moved around the chest Church jumped to action grabbing the bot and stabbing it in the back of the head disabling it, he then used its body as cover as he moved towards the gun rack, the stun rounds peppered the bots body, but just as church reached the gun rack a shot hit his foot disabling that part of his armour, he flinched at the slight pain and used the pain to spur him on as he reached the gun rack.

He put one hand behind him while holding the bot up in front of him, it was now church realised just how strong the armour made him, the bots were very heavy and would take four normal men to carry just one bot, once Church had the shotgun he waited for a second to make sure it was fully loaded before throwing the bots body at the other bots knocking them over like bowling pins, he then ran at the bots firing shot after shot at the bots using the spread of the shotgun at such close range to take out many bots in a matter of seconds, there were now only 5 bots left, church raised his shotgun and pulled the trigger and frowned as the sound of doom emanated from the weapon, the clicking of an empty gun, Church reached up for his combat knife and found it to be missing, he then remembered it was still in the head of the disabled bot from earlier, he pulled up his pistol and fired the remaining two shots hitting the bots in the legs knocking them over into the other bots, Church ran back to his combat knife and pulled it out of the bots head then turned back to the bots, they were still trying to figure out what had happened, it was now Church was glad the bots weren't the smartest of enemy's, if they were, his forgetting to retrieve the knife would most probably have gotten him killed in a real battle, he ran forwards and stabbed the three bots still standing crushing the two bots that lay on the ground, a sudden stamp of metal vibrated threw the room and Church turned his head in its direction, there stood another Bot, one of its legs and looked only half functional, but, it held a very functional stun gun and it was aiming at church's head.

Church rolled out the way the stun shots inches from his visor was they wised past, he stood and threw the knife hitting the gun out of the bots hands, he then picked up the sniper and used its last shot to shot the bot in the head fully disabling it. "son...of...a...bitch" he muttered as he caught his breath.

"good work corporal, it seemed I have a skilled second in command, please return to the viewing platform" Shepard said.

Church picked up his combat knife and placed it back into its holster, he then reloaded his pistol and sniper and placed them in there holsters, it was now he remembered he had the pulse grenade "im a fucking idiot" he muttered to himself knowing the grenade would have made it easier, he then walked back up to the viewing platform his helmet held against his hip, the door opened automatically and Church walked through smiling, the others stared at him there mouths wide open.

"what?" Church asked

"you were only supposed to fight ten, but someone hit the wrong button" Jones said.

"hey they need to properly show what button means what" Alessa said looking away slightly.

"I don't mind, it was a good work out" Church replied sending a warm smile to Alessa.

"ok well its Alessa next" the sarge said and Alessa walked out. She had purple armour with cobalt trim, she had an E.O.D helmet with a C.Q.B chest and E.O.D shoulders she walked through he door putting on her helmet as she did.

Church stood watching the training floor feeling the armour around his foot release, the armour will stay locked after being shot for a short time after leaving the training room.

"so what button did she press" Church asked

"that one" the Sarge said pointing to the blue button the command console.

Church lifted his hand and held it above the button but first turned his head towards Shepard and smirked, Shepard smirked back and Church pressed the button watching as Alessa fought off the thirty bots being hit in the left arm and right leg as the final bot fell, she walked back up and looked at Church half angry and half smirking.

"you...did that...on purpose" she moaned sitting down on the bench waiting for her armour to unlock.

"yeah maybe" Church replied smiling as Jason walked up to the door putting on his helmet.

"wish me luck, and do me a favor and press that button again, it would be unfair for me to have less targets to shoot" he said walking down towards the training floor.

As the sarge pressed the button Church looked at Jason's armour, it was white with cobalt trim again, Church was starting to see a pattern here, he looked at his arms examining the cobalt armour, Jason had an E.V.A helmet with security shoulders and a Hayabusa chest plate, he fought off the bots getting hit three times all of them could have been avoided, from what church could tell Jason was skilled but cocky and was to focused on a singular target and not on the hole group of enemy's since most of the hits were on the back of his legs and one on his left arm, he walked back up and was slightly happy but also annoyed he had been hit so much, he stepped over to a bench and started to chat to Alessa, next was Alana who had a light purple armour with cobalt details, Church guessed they had the cobalt details for a reason maybe so they could recognize each other easier, as she stood church got a good look at her armour.

She had a scout helmet with Hayabusa shoulders and a Recon chest plate it disturbed Church they were both sisters and had very similar armour colours, memory's of North and South popped into his mind and he decided to have a talk with Wash after this training mission, she stepped onto the training floor and fought well only being his twice both in the left arm, once all the enemy's were dealt with she returned and now it was Joneses turn, and everyone was looking forward to see how the private did, Church tapped him on the back as he walked past, the bots came and fell quickly and easily as Jones took full advantage of the assault rifles many uses from the butt of the gun to the fully automatic firing capability's, he was only hit once and that was in the left hand, he used the rifle with one hand after the shot and still defeated the bots.

"he's actually pretty good" Jason muttered

"told you so" Church said smiling

Jones walked back in and smiled fist bumping Church happy with how he had fought, last up was Ashley, she walked out the door and into the training room picking up two smg's as she went and attached them to her thighs and putting a DMR on her back, she had steel armour with once again cobalt detail, she had a normal mark IV helmet, chest and shoulders, as she used her duel smg's Church couldn't stop the images of Tex filling his mind, before he had noticed Ashley was finished and was walking up the stairs her helmet against her hip and sly grin on her face, as she was the only one who hadn't been hit.

After some words from the Sarge the group was given a partner and told to fight using only your hands, Church had originally been put with Jones but they had knew each others moved and weren't getting anywhere they just kept blocking each others punches, so Church had been Put with Ashley and Jones with Jason who he beat easily, when Church and Ashley fought it had been very close but church had won by a small amount since he had connected the most punches when the time limit ended, the group was then dismissed and told to roam the ship, go eat just do something for two hours while a pelican was being prepared to take them to a forest to work on strategy's and tactics.

Church went right to find Wash and found him in a conference room with the chairmen, wash seemed to be the Chairmen's assistant or adviser in this project or at least when Church were connected to anything, he walked in and the two turned to look at him, the more church had though about the situation the more agitated he had gotten.

"what the hell it going on" he blurted out and then realized he was talking to a superior officer. "urr Sir" Church said saluting.

"what's the problem corporal" asked the chairmen making an emphasis on the word Corporal.

"Sir, I know what this ship used to be, what project it used to be used by, and the two sisters in my squad seem a lot like North and South with the same armour colour and all" church stated.

"I had a feeling this would come up" Wash began "the base idea for project freelancer was a good one, train soldier and use them to do what normal soldiers couldn't achieve, but the man behind it was corrupt as you know, so when this ship was brought back a few years ago, the U.N.S.C had it repaired and decided to have there own version of project freelancer but with less hassle, no AI, no state names and less operatives, just one squad that they would deploy to different mission to help the U.N.S.C when needed, as to the sisters being like South and North, well we had the two colours and though they could have them, it has nothing to do with them being related like it did with the Dakota's" Wash finished and took a sip of water from a glass on the table.

"you seem to know a lot about all this" Church commented.

"well I should, the chairmen has put me as this projects version of the director, I will be who the U.N.S.C will contact to use your squad and will be in charge of you squad when on this ship, thou I dough you will be here much" Wash replied

"why is that" Church asked

"well, once you leave on your first mission you wont come straight back each time a mission is accomplished, mainly because you stay on a local ship or planet until another mission comes up which will be very often since the project has been of great interest to the rest of the U.N.S.C" Wash replied

"ok well, ok...and wash, why does everybody have a cobalt detail on there armour" Church asked

"just a coincidence I guess" Wash said smiling

"I hate coincidences" Church muttered as he walked out.

Church ended up sitting in the vehicle bay helping with the repairs on a warthog, in training they had been giving some knowledge of vehicles, as he worked he saw the steel armored soldier Ashley standing in front of him, her helmet was off and sitting on the passenger seat of the hog, she was simply standing there watching him.

"hey Ash, nice job in the training floor earlier" Church said doing up a bolt with a ratchet.

"thanks you weren't to bad yourself, and why did you call me Ash" she asked

"its a nick name, take it or leave it" church said smiling

"eh, I'll take it, besides I kinda like it" she said leaning against the hog.

Church continued to work and chat with Ash and even after he finished working they chatted until the pelican was ready to take them to the plant's forests below, Church liked Ash, she was nice but also able to be a badass and wasn't afraid to show it, she reminded Church of Tex but not as much as before, Ash was kinder and from what Church could tell, she like him to, so just in that respect she must be the complete opposite of Tex, then again back in Blood Gulch before Tex died they would some times hold hands on top of blue base and look up at the stars, since they were in robot body's they didn't sleep and Tex became more docile at night.

Church was brought back to the real world as the pelican landed in the thick shrubbery of the forest. As the pelican landed and the soldiers walked out they saw there playing field, it was a huge opening with a base at ether end with barricades and towers scattered in between them, Church looked out at the bases and smiled images of Blood Gulch scattering in front of his eyes, he saw a red and Blue flag in each base and knew what was going to come next.

"capture the flag, you will, steal the enemy's flag and return it to your teams base without loosing your teams flag, the winning team get a cookie" the Sarge said.

"what kind of cookie" Jason asked

"chocolate chip" Shepard replied smiling, Church liked the man, he had an interesting personality, he was strict but only when he needed to be.

"oh you guys are so going down, you should know, never get in the way of a women and her chocolate" Alessa said smiling

"she has a point Jason, women get very protective of the stuff, also makes a very good present" Church chuckled

"your not wrong" Ash said laughing.

"ok then, corporal church please pick your team mates, you'll be blue team" Shepard stated

"ok urrr, Ash, and Gav your with me" Church said picking his team mates and walking towards blue base.

The paint they were using was combat pain and worked much the same as stun guns except it hurt more, like a lot more, Church's team loaded there weapons and got positioned in blue base, Ash and Gavin listened intently as Church laid out the plan, it was what Tex had use against him and his team in Blood Gulch, Church sat up in a Tree with the Blue base entrance in his sites as well as the battle field, he had his sniper and would protect Blue base and help give cover to Ash and Gavin who would be advancing towards the Red base, Gavin would keep them busy while Ash sneaked in and stole the flag, they all nodded and moved to there positions, Church sitting in his tree while Ash and Gavin moved to the front of the base ready to move once the Sarge gave the go ahead, suddenly a shot rang out and a bunch of birds flew from the loud noise, "begin" Shepard shouted stepping back into the shadows he had been hiding in.

within seconds there was paint hitting around the walls and door way of blue base, Church followed the trail of pink paint flying threw the air and found Jason just outside red base, assault rifle in hand, suddenly Ash's voice crackled through church's head-set.

"Church, we can't even get out of the base, can you get a line of site on the shooter" she shouted over the noise.

Church looked again and saw he had a perfect shot on Jason's weapon but not much else. "ok I'm gunna shot his weapon out of his hands, it wont give you much time so on my mark run for it" Church replied and both Ash and Jones agreed, "go" Church shouted and fired one shot hitting the tip of Jason's gun sending the gun spinning threw the air and to the ground the paint jamming in the end of the barrel disabling the gun.

Church looked down and saw Ash move up with Gav giving her cover, the plan was going well, Church moved his position to a near by tree so he could see the hole Battle field, Ash and Gav had advanced to around the middle of the battle area, from the look of it Red team were playing the defensive hoping to kill off blue team and win by elimination, which could make sneaking into Red base harder for Ash, Church zoomed in through the sniper and Saw, Alessa with Jason both keeping up fire on Ash and Gav's position, but ware was Alana, Church wandered if she was sneaking into Blue base, but he would have seen her, she must be in Red base protecting the flag, so Church opened up his comm to Ash and Gav.

"ok Guys from the look of it Alana is in Red base protecting the flag, so when you go in Ash, proceed with caution" Church said thinking of a way to take out the two soldiers out front with out giving away his position to the other.

"ok got, it" she Replied

"can you give us a hand here, every time we get a reload time for Jason, Alessa steps in, it a good tactic but is fucking annoying" Gav reloading.

"hmmm, I think I have an idea" Church said smiling under his helmet.

The two were standing side by side with Jason on Alessa's left, and like Gav said, Alessa would fire when Jason was reloading, so Jason's attention would be on his weapon not the fight, church raised his sniper and aimed for Alessa's left arm, he waited for Jason to begin reloading and Alessa to shoot, as they made the switch he fired hitting Alessa in the arm, her hands clenched and moved her right hand to the paint covering her left arm, because she was clenched she was still firing and shot Jason in the chest multiple times locking his armour completely and putting him out of the game, just as Alessa realized what had happened Gav shot up from his cover and fired hitting her in the chest and helmet knocker her out of the game also, now it was just Alana, and should be easy with two against one, Church watched as Ash cautiously went into the base and left church's field of view, after a few seconds she re-emerge with the Red flag in hand.

"she wasn't there" Ash said through Church's head-set.

"then ware is, ahhh" Gav was cut off by a shot to the back of his head and his back, knocking him out of the game,

Church looked down and saw Alana running out of Blue base Flag in hand, "wow she is good at stealth" church though making a mental note, he aimed down with his sniper but pink paint covered the weapon and church dropped it to the ground, "son of a bitch" he shouted, he looked back and saw Alana now running towards Red base and Ash, Ash saw her coming but was to far away from both the base and barricades to get sufficient cover, she was in the open, Church pulled out his M6S and aimed, she was running very fast so church aimed a little ahead of her and fired, she shot hit Alana in the left leg and she fell to the ground, Ash took the opportunity and ran up picking up the Blue flag as well as the Red one and ran back to Blue base wining the game.

Church got down and picked up his sniper taking out the cleanser, he sprayed the cleaner on the gun and the paint dissolved leaving no trace of it, he put his pistol back on his thigh and walked to the middle of the battle field ware Shepard stood cleaning the pain off of Alana, she stood up as Church walked up.

"ok I'll admit, I though I had it when I got your sniper, I wasn't expecting you to be such a good shot with that pistol" she said smiling as she took off her helmet.

"well I doubt I can pull off that kinda shot again" Church replied smiling

as they spoke Alessa and Jason walked up, and Alessa had that look of anger and laughter again "you knew that would happen didn't you" she asked.

"yeah, kinda" church replied

As everyone else walked up Shepard began to talk "good job Blue team, that's one point, lets see how thing go in round two" they all moved back to there bases and revised there plans before starting again.

They were in the forest for most of the day, and the score had ended up with Blue team having seven points and Red team with three points, they were now sitting in the long hall they were going to be sleeping in for the night since they were shipping out the next day to help in a sweep and clear op to eliminate some lingering Brutes, Grunts and Jackles, Church sat up now only wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a cobalt top, with some red converse, he walked out and down the hall towards the old locker rooms, it was strange to him that he knew his way around, he knew it was only because he had been here before he was tortured but it still creeped him out, he let the large automatic door open and close behind him despite the crash the room had been fully refurbished, except the old state names were still on the lockers, the closest one on the right caught Church's attention then again it had been the reason he came to the locker room to begin with, the name the locker had was Tex, but it had used to be Texas, from what church could tell the name tag had been snapped or broken because there was a jagged edge ware the "as" should have been, Church sat down and looked over the name plate smiling, he though Tex would at least be a bit proud of him now he was a proper soldier, even following in her foot steps a little, he ran his fingers over the name when he heard foot steps coming closer and closer, he didn't want anyone in his squad to know he had any connection to the old project and defiantly didn't want anyone to know he was an AI, he was happy to let that info stay with Wash the Chairmen and Gavin.

Church quickly put the name tag in his back pocket and took a more relaxed sitting position like he was just enjoying the peace and quiet, then, the foot steps stopped and Church turned his head to see Ash standing there, she smiled and came to sit next to Church.

"why are you all the way in here, we've all been looking for you" she asked concerned

"I-I just wanted some quiet, the engines are less noise in here" Church replied telling a half truth, the engines were quieter in there. "why were you looking for me"

"the Sarge told us the name of our Squad" Ash replied smiling more

"ok what is it" Church asked sitting up

"wolfpack" Ash said smiling

"wolfpack huh, I would have though it would have been more elegant especially from the Chairmen but, I kinda like it" Church replied smiling back, "was there anything else"

"actually yeah, Jason found an old pool table in an office, and moved it into our living quarters, wanna come join" she asked.

Church was standing up and walking towards the door in an instant, "is that a trick question"

Ash jumped up and ran after him. "hey wait for me".

* * *

**Sup guys, I hope your enjoying the story, also after the next chapter I'll be uploading an OC list, just to give a little back ground to the characters, but i will be adding the next chapter at the same time so you wont have to wait any longer then you have to, Church out **


	3. Chapter 3

**Ok then, lets get this party started. also two chapters in one day, how is that hmmm**

* * *

"you guys worried about this, iv never dropped into battle like this before" Jones asked

"that's because we are _literally _dropping into battle" Church began "besides what's the worst that can happen"

"we hit the ground and explode in a fiery death" Jones replied.

"come on your just over reacting, the O.D.S.T's do this all the time, were just joining them on a mission, we'll be fine" Alessa said smiling.

"if you say so" Jones replied getting in to his pod placing his assault rifle into the holder next to the seat in the pod.

It had been two years since Church and the rest of wolfpack first met, since then they have done many missions and have completed all of them with out failure, in this time Church had got to know them all a lot better, Jason has improved since they first met, he thinks more before just running in and doesn't just run in, he takes a step back and fights from a normal distance instead from down the enemy's throat, Alessa and Alana are very similar and very different at the same time, Alessa can speak Elite and Brute, she also can fix almost anything that has wheels or floats, even some small ships, Alana can speak Jackle and Grunt and can hack anything with a circuit board, she is also a master of stealth, Jones had been promoted to lance-corporal and was by far the best driver church had met, apart from himself of course, Jones had learnt many new skills from flying ships to making weapons, Ashley, is just an all around badass, she can take out a squad of covenant in the blink of an eye, she too is a master of stealth probably on par with Alana, Ash and Church had become very close over the two years and have had a relationship going for about a year but keep it under raps, the others know including the Sarge but they are not allowed to do much romantics while on duty, so not often, Church had become an all around leader, as well as an ace fighter, he leads every charge the squad makes and is always in the thick of it when it comes to planning there next move, the sarge how ever, Shepard has been getting slower and slower and has been relying of Church's gut and plans more and more, Church was worried that he was getting to old and would be injured badly soon, Church and Shepard had become close and Church looked up to the man, and would be devastated to lose his squads leader.

All this emotions, at first, had been strange to Church, back in blood Gulch he was forced to put up with his team but now he cherished his time with them, he liked the thrill of the fight, what most surprised him was his relationship with Ash, he didn't know if it was because of how him and Tex's relationship was but Church's relationship with Ash was more then he could have imagined, when ever they are off duty so once every few months they are together all the time, they sleep in the same bed go to restaurants and hang out with there Squad at night clubs, to Church it was what a normal relationship was supposed top be like and he had realised his time with Tex was not love but programming, he had been made to love her and so had she, but him and Ash were together because they actually care about one another which thrilled him.

Church put his sniper into the pod and his pistol on his thigh, he stepped in as the hatch closed and with in moments the pod dropped, he clung to the handles of the pod shaking as he felt like it was zero gravity, he wouldn't admit to Jones or Ash but he wasn't all that fond of heights, and it didn't help that he was now looking through the small window at the fast approaching ground, the pod crashed into the ground sending a shock up church's spine, the pod door opened letting the cold air of the ice planet hit church, the planet in question was sol 6, an ice planet with little life on it, but there was a research base which the covenant was attacking, wolfpack had been asked to help out a bunch of O.D.S.T's who were going to wipe out the aliens and save the scientists, to most, the ice planet would not be appealing but Church liked the cold, it was the exact opposite to Blood Gulch ware it was always hot, Church had told his squad mates about Blood Gulch, but left out most of the details, he mainly told them about how he hated almost everyone there and the sun never went down.

The cold touch of air calmed church down as he stepped out of his pod grabbing his sniper, he smiled as his armoured feet squished the snow leaving foot prints, he looked up and saw Ash's pod land around fifty meter away, so Church began to make his way over, as Church got closer he realised the door hadn't opened so he picked up the pace, he smiled as he saw Ash's helmet through the small window, when he reached the pod, from what Church could tell Ash's pod was stuck closed.

"little help Leo" she asked.

"you might have to persuade me" Church chuckled taking off his helmet and grinning at her.

"you know we have to wait until were off duty, but there is something I can do" Ash replied, Church walked up and pulled the release letting Ash's pod open.

Ash walked out and took of her helmet before kissing Church on the lips putting her armoured hand on his cheeks, Church put his arms around her smiling through the kiss.

"your not very discreet are you" Gavin voice cut through the air, both Ash and Church jumped away from each other and fell on there backs Gavin bursting in to laughter. "come on guys, lets go meet up with the others, I think they landed over here".

Church stood up and held out his hand to Ash, she took it and stood up blushing, they both put there helmets on and followed Jones, after five minuets of walking they arrived at the rest of there squads landing zone.

"why did you guys take so long" Shepard asked.

"my pod, got stuck sir, Leo had to hit the manual release from the outside" Ash replied

"well no harm done Alana only just got back from her scouting run" the sarge replied motioning to the snow covered Alana.

"yeah, from what I can tell there are around fifty enemy's in total, mostly Grunts and Jackles but the few Brutes that are here are generals, and they all have grav hams" Alana said removing her helmet. "now the O.D.S.T's can handle the Grunts and Jackles and a few brutes, but not this many and not at the same time, so were gunna have to think of a way to spread out our help, because our normal tactics wont work in this land scape"

"hmm, what do you suggest Church" Shepard asked.

"well, if we split up into two groups and send one group with the main force of O.D.S.T's to attack the front of the base, while the second team takes a small group of O.D.S.T's and sneaks in through the back of the base and attacks them from behind, we could catch them off guard and eliminate them by surprise" Church replied receiving a smile from Shepard.

"good plan, lets get going wolfpack" Shepard said. "I'll go talk to the O.D.S.T leader and get you your small team"

"roger that sir" Church replied and turned to everyone. "ok Ash and Alana your with me, your the best at stealth"

"yes sir" they both replied in unison

"ok, Gav your in command of red team, we'll be Blue team, make sure to watch your fire once Blue team enters the base, I don't want any stray bullets hitting us" Church stated

"yes sir" he replied as the group walked over to follow the Sarge.

Alana put her helmet back on as the group approached Shepard and the O.D.S.T commander.

"you must be corporal Church, I'm Commander Buck, I believe your gunna be in command of a small team of my O.D.S.T's" Buck said

"yes sir" Church replied

"how good are you" Buck asked and the group smiled under there helmets.

Church took out his M6S and fired one shot into the air never looking away from Buck, he then held up his hand and counted down on his fingers from five, when the last finger dropped so did a bird, it landed five meters away from the group a bullet wound in its bird stomach.

"ok, good to know my guys are in good hands, we'll wait until your team is in position before attacking" Buck replied.

Church nodded before sneaking behind the research base with Ash and Alana plus the seven O.D.S.T's, they massed around the rear entrance as Alana hacked in to open the door and killed the lights.

"ok, everyone turn on you night vision, you gunna need it" Church said as the door's panel turned green. Church then turned on is radio and spoke to Buck. "ok were dark, start your attack, take them while there blind"

Instantly gun fire could be herd and Church gripped his sniper. "ok on three...one...two...three". Alana opened the door and the group began to fire on the grunts and Jackles that all had there back to them, completely focused on the attack from the front of the base, Church's team annihilated the enemy leaving a pile of body's, Church walked forward reloading his sniper, he looked over the body's frowning.

"I thought you said there were brute generals, with grav hams" Church asked Alana

"don't sound so disappointed" Ash said smirking under her helmet.

"there were, they must have oh no" Alana said but stopped and helmet helmet herself.

"shit" Church muttered as he realised his mistake.

Brute generals have Grav hams and Cloaking, and to make things worse Church had told Alana to turn the lights off.

"what" Ash asked, not knowing what was going on.

Church ignored her and ran towards the front of the base, he looked at the snow and saw a shimmer and foot steps moving towards Gavin, Church sprinted forward. "NO!", he shoved Gavin out the way just in time but was hit by the swing of the hammer sending Church flying, he hit the ground with a pain filled thud as he held his chest, he had at least three broken ribs and maybe a few fractured ones, Church looked up still laying on the ground, "oh son of a bitch", standing above him and a Brute and his foot was raised about to stamp down on Church's head, Church clamped his eyes shut waiting for the hit, but it never came, he opened one eye and saw an energy sword sticking through the beast chest, as it was pulled out by its owner Church opened his other eye just in time for the brute to fall on him. "get this fucking thing off of me" he shouted.

Suddenly the beast was pulled off and Church's eyes opened in shock. "Junior?"

"yes uncle, it is good to see you again" Junior replied holding out his hand, and church took it standing up holding his chest.

"yeah hate to break up the family reunion but we have a problem" a man with dark brown hair said standing behind Junior, Church looked around and saw that the group of O.D.S.T's and the rest of wolfpack were surrounded by Brutes with grav hams.

"go, I'll cover you" Church said in a strained voice crouching down on one knee holding his sniper, this obviously wasn't the time to ask how Junior got here.

Junior nodded and ran towards the other Brutes killing them with quick and clean slashes of his sword, while the other man vanished them with a shotgun, with in minuets the brutes were dealt with and Church was impressed by Junior and the other man's skills, Church didn't even need to fire a shot, Church stood up and started to walk towards the group but felt a shot of pain and fell to one knee before blacking out. "LEO!" was the last thing Church head before he let the darkness take him.

Church opened his eyes and instantly noticed this room as the Excalibur's medi bay, he looked over and smiled as Ash walked up to him. She was wearing a pair of light tight blue jeans and a lose white top, she had her fiery red hair down with some hair over her left eye, Church looked down and saw he had bandages around his chest but no ware else.

"good, your awake, how do you feel" she asked

"ugh, as good as I look" Church replied putting on a faint smiled. He looked around the room and saw Gavin and Junior asleep, suddenly Church was worried, hoping Junior hadn't said anything to link him to the old project or said he was a ghost or something.

"wow, that bad huh" Ash replied smiling, Church lifted a hand and moved Ash's loose piece of hair behind her ear before pulling her into a kiss, she kissed back before they both pulled back remembering there were two sleeping people in the room.

"how long have they been here" Church asked motioning to Gav and Junior.

"since you got here, the Elite-Junior and Alex joined us in coming back to the Excalibur, Junior keeps calling you uncle, is there something your not telling me" she asked chuckling.

"very funny, no I'm not an alien" Church began. "you remember that Tucker guy I told you about, well he was impregnated by an Elite and his urr baby was junior"

"that's...wow" Ash said surprised.

"yeah in know, who names there kid junior" Church laughed earning him a knock on the shoulder from Ash.

"Uncle your awake" Church looked over and Saw Junior getting up and walking over, followed by Gav.

"hey Ash could you give us a minuet" Church asked, Ash nodded and walked out leaving Junior and Gav in the room, Church moved to the side letting his feet dangle over the edge, Junior gave Church a hug and Church yelped in pain, instantly being released by Junior, "sorry uncle" junior said.

"its...ok" Church stopped to catch his breath for a second. "and urr, all me Church or Leonard, you know since I'm not technically you Uncle"

"but you are as close as one, at least to me" Junior said.

"ok fine you can call me Uncle" Church looked the elite over and smiled. "it is good to see you, but man have you gotten big, I haven't see you since you were this big" Church showed how big by moving his hands. "how are you here anyway, I looked for you at the crash site of that pelican but I never found you, then again I was mainly looking for Tex" church admitted.

"I was found by a man called Alex Shepard, he was the man who you saw earlier in battle, as to how I found you" Junior stopped for a second. "I had been tracking that group of covenant for a week I had been planning on infiltrating the base and killing them but you beat me to it"

"sorry about that" Church chuckled standing up and picking up his cloth which were sitting at the end of his bed.

"actually you helped a lot, it would have been hard for me and Alex to take out the hole base by ourselves" Junior replied.

"don't mention it, ok I'm gunna get changed but first, Junior I don't know if you remember to much about me, you know back in Blood Gulch but can you not tell anyone about it, they all know me as a human so if they question you on anything just say I hated it there ok, the only one in my Squad that knows about what I really am and what happened there, is Gav" Church replied and picked up his cloths.

"sure, I wont tell them anything" Junior replied stepping out of the room with Gav.

After the two left Church got changed into his normal cloths, a pair of jeans and a cobalt top, he walked out to find the sarge standing in front of him.

"Church" he smiled. "please follow me"

Church followed Shepard into a conference room ware the chairmen and Wash stood, despite being the director of the new project Church hadn't seem Wash all that much so it was good to see him, the chairmen simply smiled as church and Shepard walked in.

"Sir's" Shepard saluted as did Church.

"I told you he was ready" Shepard said smiling.

"it appears you are right" the chairmen said.

"anyone gunna fill me in" Church asked feeling out of place.

"for a while now iv known the wolfpack has needed a knew leader, I'm simply not up to the task any more" Shepard smiled. "I'm getting old, so what else was I to do then to look to my second in command, you are a brilliant leader and you are willing to defend you squad even at your own risk, you proved that today"

"what are you saying sir" Church asked

"I'm saying I' leaving the squad and I'm leaving you as its leader Gunnery-Sargent Church" Shepard said smiling tapping Church on the back. "I always knew you would make a great leader, and today only strengthened that belief"

"G-Gunnery-Sargent" Church replied

"its a promotion Church, this is a good thing" Wash chuckled

"thank you sir" Church replied looking at Shepard.

"you don't have to call me that any more gunny" Shepard replied

"oh you'll always be a Sir to me" Church said smiling.

Shepard smiled back. "do me one favour would you"

"what" Church asked

"that guy, the one that was fighting with the Elite urr Junior, his name is Alex Shepard...I think the Wolfpack should have a Shepard don't you" Shepard said smiling.

"yes Sir, I'll ask him" Church replied

"good" Shepard replied

"that will be all Sargent Church" the chairmen said and Church walked out.

Church was filled with excitement, not just a Sargent but a Gunnery-Sargent, and he's the leader of Wolfpack, Church thought for a moment, he was gunna need some second in commands, he walked to the living quarters of wolfpack and smiled looking at everyone and everyone looked back giving a faint smile.

"Junior and Alex is it, how does joining the Ranks of Wolfpack sound" Church asked

"sure, hows the pay" Alex asked

"its pretty good I'm not gunna lie" Church replied

"then yeah I'll join" he replied

"like I would say no Uncle" Junior said smiling, or at least church though he was smiling, it was hard to tell with four jaws.

"oh yeah I almost forgot" Church turned towards Gav and Ash, "you two are being promoted to Corporal, I'll fast track the process"

"urr Dude is there something your not telling us" Jason asked sitting on his bed.

"that's Gunnery-Seargent Church, the new leader of wolfpack, the best squad in the U.N.S.C actually" Church said letting a smile cross his face as everyone smiled at his words.

"so Gunny, what's our next job" Gav asked grinning.

* * *

~two years later~

Church opened his eyes, his life had changes so much in the last four years, even more in the last two after becoming wolfpack's leader, At first Church had become worried that his Squad mates would reject the idea of him being there full leader, or that they would become cold to him and not like playing pool when they're off Duty, but actually Church becoming there leader had strengthened him and his squads relationship but most of them called him Gunny instead of Church now, all of Wolfpack's members were like a family even Alex who had only been there since Church had become leader had fitted in well, hell even Junior who was an alien had fitted in, Church had though that was helped by him being Juniors "Uncle" and also the fact he had saved Church at the ice base.

Alex was a master of close combat, he used a shotgun and energy sword, he also was a skilled medic which was surprising at first but the more Church got to know the man the more he understood, Alex was relatively cold to people he didn't know but if you did know him then he was the complete opposite, he was with Wolfpack one hundred percent and would help out his friends and squad mates with everything he had, he also was very talkative especially when he was with Alessa who he hit on constantly, at first Church though Alessa didn't like it but actually all this time she has been playing hard to get, Junior and Church had become closer then Church had expected, Junior have started to treat Church like his farther which Church understood to an extent, he would want anyone as a farther if his biological farther was tucker, Junior was an expert at covenant tech and close combat, he had an energy sword and a plasma rifle.

Church felt a warmth on his chest and looked down to see Ash smiling at him. "morning" she said her voice groggy

Church smiled and moved her hair out of her face. "morning" Church began to move but Ash was wrapped around him in an instant.

"no, I like the warmth and I want a little more time off" she moaned.

They were in bed in a hotel, they had been off duty for two weeks, the longest wolfpack has even been off in one go, but the squad needed some R&R, they were scheduled to go back to Excalibur that day and they had been told to show up early.

Church looked down to see Ash was giving him the cutest eyes he had ever seen, no matter how strong Church though himself to be Ash could still wrap him around her little finger with those eyes.

"fine" Church muttered kissing Ash as they lay together.

* * *

~on Excalibur~

"sir I don't think this is a good idea, this is like the biggest insult to the man, and we have no idea how it could affect Church's mind, he could break or, well I don't know what but I doubt we should take the risk" Wash said looking at the Chairmen's face over the video phone.

"they are the best squad the U.N.S.C has apart from Spartans and there arnt that many of them left, this is an assignment of the greatest importance, you know we have to do this" the Chairmen replied.

"yes Sir, I'll tell them" Wash replied ending the call

Wash looked around his office. And muttered to himself "Shit...Church isn't gunna like this. Not one fucking bit"

* * *

~And back to Church~

Church walked out of the hotel carrying his and Ash's bags while holding Ash's hand with his free hand, they walked to the waiting pelican and saw the rest of wolfpack also waiting.

"your late" Gav said smiling.

"hey, blame Ash not me" Church replied throwing his bag onto the pelican.

"you always were a charmer Leo" Ash said as they walked onto the pelican.

The ride only took an hour and as they stepped off the pelican the crew of Excalibur saluted them before going back to work, they took there cloths to there living quarters before going to Wash's office for the first mission, Church and the rest of wolfpack walked into Wash's office and Church smiled.

"ok Wash, what have you got for us this time" Church asked, he and Wash had become closer after Church became a Gunnry-sargent, they had even gone drinking together a few times while on leave.

"your late" Wash began, but smiled when he saw Ash holding Church's hand. "but after I tell you what the mission is you might wish you never showed up at all"

"come on Wash there's nothing this squad can't handle" Jason said and Was scowled at him "I mean Sir"

"but seriously Wash what's the mission" Church looked at Wash's eyes and he knew something was wrong. "what's wrong wash, what kinda mission is this"

"you are to go to the planet Palovan you will then escort a criminal from there to the planet colossus which has the biggest and most secure prison in existence on it, and take the criminal there" Wash then stopped and waited for the groups reactions

everyone except Church and Jones were chuckling. "that's the big scary mission, what's the worst that can happen" Jason asked

"that prison on colossus, they only house the more dangerous criminals there, like people who have killed millions or people who assassinate world leaders or" Jones was cut off by Church

"or war criminals...Wash please...please tell me this criminal isn't who I think it is"

Wash simply took out a picture and slid it on the table for the squad to see, the picture was of an old man but he still had jet black hair, he had emerald green eyes and sharp features, he looked a lot like an older version of Church.

"hey he looks a bit like you Gunny" Alana said a little unnerved, the picture brought a kind of silence to the room.

"no, no no no no no" Church muttered, he was holding his head and was looking down.

"Leo what's wrong, who is this guy" Ash asked putting her hand on Church's shoulder.

"the director"

* * *

**hey guys, after the next chapter were gunna see the rest of the RVB cast, so YYYYEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH, any ways, Church out. **


	4. chapter 4, OC list and info

**This is the OC list plus others with there back story's: if you don't read all the stuff please read the end bit as it has a little piece of story, you don't really need it, I just though id add it. also in ressponse to Bella's review the first three chapters were kinda like the intro, the real story starts now! hold on tight.**

* * *

Name: Gavin Jones

DOB: unknown

Armour colours: red wine red with cobalt detail.

Backstory: Gavin grew up on earth in England, his father was an officer in the military for many years and Gavin always wanted to follow in his foot steps, after enlisting he was shipped to a place called rats nest ware he was injured by private Caboose and sent back to earth for some R&R, but this didn't slow him down he then joined a research project in a desert but was injured by an Elite and sent home again, this time Gavin though his military career was over, until there was an opening in a U.N.S.C search and clear op, so he took his chances and went for it, his first mission was searching a de-funked Projects base ware he found an AI and well you know what happened after that.

Name: Alessa Beth

DOB: classified.

Armour colour: dark purple with cobalt detail

Backstory: grew up in North Dakota with her sister Alana, as she grew up she always wanted to make a difference in the world even if people didn't know she had done anything, so she joined the military, she was stationed first on an ice planet called sidewinder but after he Squad was mysteriously killed while she was on patrol she was moved to guarding position in an O.N.I base, and when the covenant attacked she single handedly protected the egg head of the base and got them off world which got the attention of Sargent Shepard, he then recruited her for a new squad that was begin formed and well, /this OC gets her name from Alessa who is a character in Silent Gulch/

Name: Alana Beth

DOB: Classified

Armour colour: light purple with cobalt detail.

Backstory: Alana grew up in North Dakota but moved to South Dakota early in her life, she had always wanted to join the military and after her sister joined up she joined two, she was first sent to reach and was tasked with destroying a covenant Jammer but had been cornered with her back against the wall, she protected her squad mates until a Spartan arrived (Nobel Six) and helped her clear the building of enemy's, after this her squad was moved to a place called to a place called erosion while she was put into a newly made squad./this OC gets her name from Alana who is a character in Silent Gulch/

Name: classified, Shepard

DOB: unknown

Armour colour: dark red

Backstory: not much is know about Shepard back ground but we do know he had no parents to speak off, he joined the military sat 18 and has served since then, he had a grade A career and until 2 years ago he was the leader of the U.N.S.C's best fire team, (designation: wolfpack, see other file for info) now he is happily retired on a beach some ware, the U.N.S.C no longer keeps tags on him.

Name: Jason scot

DOB: unknown

Armour colour: white with cobalt detail

Backstory: parents died at 8 he joined after leaving his foster home at 18, he then fought in the reach wars escaping with injury's but a fully alive ship filled with civilians, the U.N.S.C notices this and moved him to be under the command of Sargent Shepard.

Name: Alex Shepard (not to be confused with Sargent Shepard)

DOB: unknown

Armour colour: brown with cobalt strip (cobalt strip added after joining wolfpack)

Backstory: nothing is known about the man's past apart from the fact he found Junior (see next file) before the U.N.S.C and kept him alive until he grew up then they began to find and kill covenant, they then meet with at the time Corporal Church who after being promoted to Gunnery-Sargent Church asked them to Join wolfpack (see other file for info).

Name: Junior

DOB: unknown (is an Elite)

Armour colour: teal

Backstory: unknown, is currently a member of wolfpack (see other file for info)

Name: Ashley Hawthorn

DOB: classified.

Backstory: ran away from home at 16, her parents were very violent and beat her, after turning 18 she joined up in the military and was an A class recruit ans assigned to a security detail on harvest ware she protected some scientists from covie attack, this achievement got her noticed by Sargent Shepard and she was recruited into Wolfpack (see other file for info) after returning to earth.

Name: Leonard L. Church

DOB: classified

Armour colour: Cobalt

Backstory: highly Classified, is currently the leader of U.N.S.C fire team designation Wolfpack (see other file for info).

* * *

The man looked down from his computer and smiled from ware he sat. "we can take them" he looked down to the man below him. "ops a go, lets get that crook"


	5. Chapter 5

**Ok then, lets get the real story started. Also I fixed the last chapter, Bella notified me I had missed Ash so I added her to the OC list thanks Bella.**

**I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

"urrr who" Jason asked

"he was the director of project freelancer...what our project used to be, before it was shut down and he was arrested" Church said taking a glance at Wash.

"what happened" Alex asked.

"that's not important, what is important is this guy is seriously bad news, and we're gunna have to help move him" Church replied, he had never used this kinda tone with his squad before, he had never really gotten angry or frustrated at them or something Wash has done.

"well I still don't see how this will be difficult, I mean its still just a prisoner moving to a new prison" Jason said.

"yeah, we can handle this, even if it some old guy from our old project" Ash commented rubbing Church's back as he stood straight up taking deep breath, wolfpack looked at him confused looks on there faces, well apart from Gav's face.

"ok, lets gear up and get this over with" Church said and Wolfpack moved out, Church glanced back at Wash who was facing the wall his eyes down.

Wolfpack got there armour and weapons and walked to the hanger bay ready for departure, a pelican came and took them to palovan, Church could feel his squad mates eyes boring into the back of his head, they knew something was wrong, they knew he wasn't telling them something, but they knew Church and they Trusted him, they weren't about to confront him with out evidence to support there query, the ride in the pelican was strangely quite and tense, the pelican landed and wolfpack walked out and over to the commander of the prison.

"Sargent Church, I'm officer daily, I'm glad your here, I'm about ready to get rid of this piece of trash" Daily said motioning for Church and wolfpack to follow.

Church put on his helmet and opened comms for his hole squad while not letting anyone else hear. "ok guys, keep the chatter low and keep your helmets on"

"Rodger that" wolfpack replied as they turned the corner and saw a man in a straight jacket.

He had black hair, green eyes and looked like Church, this was the director, he had a beard and his hair was long and dirty, as wolfpack walked in he looked up and looked at the soldiers, he seemed to bring his attention to Church and seemed even more curious when Ash moved next to him, the director was a smart man and knew who they had gotten to move him, he remembered Church's armour and weapons of choice, they sent the new version of his project to take him to a new prison, this infuriated the director, and as he moved forward with his guards he wanted noting more then to attack Church.

Church followed the guards and the director as they walked out of the prison towards the waiting pelican, Church took this opportunity to look at the prison, it was big and very bit on metal and concrete, the walls were around fifteen meter high and the guard towers another five meters higher, the place was a fortress, as Church walked with the guards and his squad to the waiting pelican, he made eye contact with the director, he knew the Director couldn't see his eyes but it was like he could, he looked bad and Church was happy with it, he didn't like the director and he was getting what he deserved.

The path they were walking on was made on concrete with a sea on one side and a large forest on the other, the place was strangely calming considering there was a prison behind him, he felt relaxed the flowing water and the calm leaves, it was nice to Church, as they walked Church looked over his squad, they looked alert and fully awake, he looked at Ash and smiled under his helmet, even through her armour she looked good, he looked to Gav and frowned, his body movements were jumpy and quick, he must have been very worried about this, it probably didn't help that Church had told him story's about the man and everything he had done.

"so remind me again what the big deal about this guy was, I mean this has gone off without a hitch" Jason asked making a movement with his hands

"we still have to escort him to the prison on colossus" Gav said clutching his gun tighter.

"come on guys, its gunna be fine, lets just get him to the pelican, ride to colossus and get him there, nice and easy ok" Ash said, and Church smiled as Gav relaxed a bit.

"so Gunny, what can you tell us about this guy, I mean what did he do to deserve going to this colossus prison...place...thingy" Alex asked trailing off shaking is head as he spoke.

"well, for starters he was using his high up position in the military to get info on other projects the Spartan project being one of them, aside from that, he tortured an AI to segment its mind to make copy's fragments so he could then give the fragments to his operatives, this of course made the AI urr go insane and almost destroy its self" Church didn't like talking about his past but they didn't know it was his past and it did make him feel better that his squad knew about what the Director had done.

"wow, what an asshole" Alessa said

"yeah, he is getting to that prison, he is so not getting away" Alana said

"come on Alana, ware is he gunna go, he has no escape route" Jason replied

Before Church knew what was happening he heard the sound of metal hitting concrete, suddenly there was a flash and a bang, his vision went white when his vision returned the immediate area was filled with smoke, Church and the rest of Wolfpack turned on their thermal visors but the director was gone, the guards that were standing around him were all dead, their throats slit.

"what the fuck just happened" shouted Jason as the smoke cleared.

"you had to open you big mouth" Church muttered through the comm, "the directors gone, how is he just gone"

"Shit!" Gav shouted seeing a pelican take off from behind the near by forest.

The group lifted there weapons and fired, Church hitting the pilots canopy but the pilot dodged and the rest of wolfpack didn't do anything against the pelican there bullets bouncing off the armour uselessly, Church walked to the waiting pelican and ordered it to take him to Excalibur his voice gruff and angry, he and the rest of wolfpack ran out of the pelican and to the conference room ware Wash now stood with the chairmen.

"what happened Sargent Church" the chairmen asked, his voice showing signs of irritation.

"there was an unknown force sir, they were very well trained as they managed to killed six guards and free the director with in a matter of seconds" Church replied

"shit!" Wash said placing his hands on the table.

"any idea what they want with him" Wash asked.

"no, they just took him" Church replied

"Sargent you must get the director back, he is dangerous, you know this, you must return him to prison" the Chairmen stated.

"yes sir" Church said and the chairmen walked out.

Church waited for him to leave before speaking. "what the fuck is going on Wash" Church asked, Rubbing his temples.

"we are currently tracking the directors ship, he is currently in the middle of rebel territory, we cant risk following him, we don't have that much fire power" Wash replied looking at a computer screen

"ok so the rebels sprung the director, but that doesn't explain why or how we're gunna get him back" Gav said.

"we don't know why they have freed the director but we do have a plan for beating him, but Church isn't going to like it" wash said looking up.

"to be honest anything right now cant be worse then this" Church replied raising his eye brow

"good" wash replied showing him a picture of a box canyon with a base at either end.

"shit"

~two hours later~

Church sat in the old locker room, it hadn't been used so it was clean and quite, Church came here often to think when he needed it, but this time he was with Gav and he needed someone to talk to. "this is such bullshit" Church moaned, ok well more like he needed someone to bitch to.

"I know, they even want Caboose, and he shot me in the back" Gav replied, rubbing a sore spot on his back.

"what can those idiots do anyway" Church replied

"you know they only want there help because they are the only living people apart from the people in this project that have experience with project freelancer" Gav reasoned placing a hand on Church's shoulder.

"yeah I know, its just, we don't need them, they will just slow us down" Church moaned.

At that moment Ash walked in with a piece of paper, "hey Leo, they gave us a list of names for the people were gunna be getting, there all in a place called Blood Gulch, isn't that the same place you were stationed"

"yeah, yeah it was, they are the people I hate most in the world" Church replied.

Ash simply smiled and handed him the list. Church scanned the list remembering every bitter moment he spent there.

"son of a bitch!" Church shouted and clenched his fists and began to walk towards Wash's office.

"Church?" Gav asked following behind, Ash following behind him.

Church walked into Wash's office his face almost as red as Gav's amour, Wash looked at him and his face went ice white, Church began to slowly walk forward his fists still clenched.

"Church listen I can explain, we found her at the crash site and we couldn't trust her to leave so we gave her urr a body and stationed her in Blood Gulch with the reds and blues" Wash said knowing he should have told Church from the beginning, Wash's eyes opened wide as he felt Church pick him up by his collar causing him to find it hard to breath.

"EXPLAIN!, YOU LIED TO ME, ALL THIS TIME YOU HAVE LIED TO ME!" Church shouted causing Ash and Gav to cover there ears.

"its not my fault, the chairmen didn't think you should know, I'm sorry" Wash pleaded his feet swinging helplessly as he ran out of air.

"DIDN'T NEED TO KNOW!. IM THE ONLY PERSION SHE EVER CARED FOR AND I DIDN'T NEED TO KNOW? IM THE FIRST PERSION THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN TOLD!" Church yelled again, Gavin moved forward and took the list that was on Wash's desk, his eyes opened when he realised why church was mad.

"Church you need to calm down, ok pal, this isn't how to handle this" Gavin said putting his hand on Church's back.

Church lifted Wash up another foot before dropping him and walking out still pissed, Ash tried to follow him but Gav told her to stay and give Church some space.

"Jones, Wash...what just happened, what was that about" Ash asked worried, rubbing her ears.

Wash sat on the ground his back against the wall trying to breath "I knew...we should have...told him" Wash said breathing in.

"told him what" Ash asked

"that his Girlfriend was alive" Jones replied helping Wash up.

Ash ran out the room after Church ignoring Gav's words about letting him have space, She ran down the halls and ended up in the old locker room's, Church was standing in front of a locker with the name tag missing, She watched as he took a metal name tag out of his pocket and stared at it, she was surprised to see a tear run down the side of his face, she had never seen him cry, not once.

"Leo" Ash asked and Church spun around surprised

"Ash"

"who was she" Ash motioned to the metal name tag.

"ugh...she was someone close to me well kinda, she was my girlfriend, before I left Blood Gulch she was urrr leaving in a pelican but there was a bomb aboard and as she was leaving it exploded, I thought it had killed her, I even went to the crash site of the pelican but I couldn't find her, but NOW it turns out she has been living in Blood Gulch with the idiots I used to know and another old freelancer who was also supposed to be dead" Church sat on the bench looking at the name tag.

"you know about the old project, what was it like" Ash asked

"I...I don't want to talk about it" Church replied standing up and walking over to her, and gently kissing her. And putting on a false smile "now don't get jealous, I still love you"

she knocked his shoulder smiling "like you would leave me"

"never" Church said wrapping his arms around her.

Despite all the work Church had done, as far as he had come, he knew something about him couldn't be changed, like the fact he at his core was programmed to love Tex, he couldn't change that, it was who he was, but he loved Ash more, he...he did.

He started at Ash holding her hands in his, she smiled at him and kissed him again savouring it. "you think we have enough time" she whispered into Church's ear seductively

"unfortunately no, we have to go and get the dumb asses and the crazy bitch's at Blood Gulch" Church replied kissing her again.

"dammit, wait did you just call your Ex a Bitch" Ash asked

"yeah I did, and you'll understand when you meet her"

Ash simply smiled and hugged him close to her for a few more minuets before letting go and taking his hand as she led him to the pelicans, the rest of Wolfpack was waiting for them and Gav smiled when he saw them walking up hand in hand, the door of the pelican slowly opened and Wolfpack entered buckling in, as they headed for Blood Gulch, Church told the rest of wolfpack about the people there, giving them a little back ground and about Tex, they seemed to understand, even thou Church left out all the AI stuff, as they approached Church was having second thoughts, he didn't want to risk seeing Tex again, he loved Ash and he didn't want to loose her over programming.

"umm, can you guys go first, Ash you lead, I'll join you after a bit I want to take a look around first" Church said looking at his squad, they all nodded and Church smiled. He was glad his squad was loyal and he could trust them.

The pelican landed and wolfpack walked out laving Church sitting there, he slowly rose and looked at the barren landscape of Blood Gulch, it was still a horrible place and the heat was still there, Church removed his helmet and walked out of the pelican onto the hard dirt ground, no amount of time would make this place even slightly appealing, Church watched as Wolfpack walked off towards blue base smiling as he saw them take of there helmets staring at Ash's fiery red hair, Church shook his head and walked towards the hill, he slowly walked up the long incline and finally stopped at the still black patch.

It surprised Church that the spot was still black after so long but it was, this was ware Caboose had shot him all those years ago, it felt like so long, and it was only now he even though of the age difference between him and Ash, even thou Church was in a twenty five year old looking body his mind was actually much older, he couldn't really remember how old he actually was but it must be in the thirty's, he stared at the black spot and let a smile cross his face, he had done it, he had become a proper soldier, he had left this place and won, and now he returned not a ragtag idiot but a Gunnery-Sargent who had a loyal squad and a women he could say he truly loved, he had won.

~with wolfpack~

Ash and the rest of wolfpack slowly walked forwards towards blue base, their armoured boots leaving prints in the dusty cracked ground, the place was baron, Ash half expected a tumble weed to roll by.

"this place looks like shit, and its fucking hot, and this is ware Gunny spent like five years" Alex asked, putting a hand on the back of his neck.

"yep, and he hated every moment of it" Gav said taking off his helmet. "god I cant take the heat"

"me neither" Jason said removing his helmet, quickly followed by everyone else.

"I wander if these guy are as bad as Gunny says" Alessa said, moving her hair out and letting it flow down her armoured shoulders.

"trust me they are, and I suggest you and Alana stay away from Tucker, he is urrr, sexually minded" Junior said his elite armour very hot to the touch.

"urr what do you mean" Alana asked

"he's not very good with women and yet he tries everything he can to have sex with them" junior replied shaking his head at the memory's of his mother.

"you were from here right, or at least born here" Alana asked

"yes, Church was the only sane person here so I though of him as my Uncle" Junior replied

"hmm. Makes sense" Alex said. Running his hand through his hair.

"ok well everyone be careful as we move in, never understatement stupid people in large numbers" Ash said taking out her pistol as they walked.

As they reached Blue base they realised the base had no doors, so they just walked in, the base was mostly metal with a blue marking on the outside, inside was a group of people standing around a kitchen all with drinks, they were in normal cloths apart from a two women who were in full armour, one of them had Black armour while the other had teal armour, as wolfpack walked in they realised they hadn't been noticed so they waited and listened to there conversation.

"ugh, its time's like this I miss Church" the women in black armour said.

"why, I though you hated him" a black guy said, he had his arm over a women who had a yellow bikini on.

"I never said I hated him, I just didn't like showing affection towards him" Ash assumed the one in Blake armour was Tex.

"yeah but you don't like showing affection to anyone" the teal armoured women said, knocked Tex on the arm.

"true" Tex replied

"dammit Tucker get your arm away from my sister" a man is orange said pointing at the black guy.

"hey, I'm not complain Grif" said the yellow bikini wearing women.

Ash had had enough of this, she stepped forward followed by the rest of wolfpack, Tex and the teal armoured women looked at them and reached for there weapons but Ash raised her pistol holding them in place.

"we're not here for a fight, actually the opposite" Ash said her voice calm as she lowered her gun.

The un-amroured soldiers jumped as Ash spoke and turned around looking at wolfpack, Ash now realised they were watching a small TV, they were watching what looked to be cartoons, **how fitting. **Ash thought.

"who the hell are you guys" Tucker asked moving back a bit.

"I'm corporal Hawthorn and this is fire team wolfpack" Ash said motioning to wolfpack.

Tucker stood and looked at the elite, "Junior, is that you"

"yes mother" Junior said

"ha ha ha he called you mother" sister said

"not funny" he turned back to Junior "why are you here, ware have you been"

"we are here to take you all on a mission to bring the director back to prison, he has escaped and we need to get him back, and why do you care ware I have been, I don't remember you looking for me" Junior replied

"I though you were dead" Tucker replied looking down ashamed.

"WHAT!" Tex and the teal armoured women asked

"the director escaped and since you lot have the most experience with the old project freelancer we need your help in finding him" Ash said

"ok I'm in" Tex said quickly followed by the teal women who Ash had figured to be Carolina.

"well its not like you have a choice but its good you are showing enthusiasm" Ash said.

"fuck that were not going with you" Tucker said standing with the reds and blues.

"like I said you, DON'T have a choice" Ash repeated

suddenly a voice cut through the air emanating from Ash's helmet. "hey Ash have you found the dead wait yet" Church asked

Ash lifted her helmet closer to her head but not putting it on. "yeah Leo we found them, but some of them don't seem to want to want to join us, well two of them do, I think one of them is your Ex" she replied

"if she has black armour then yeah that's her, and I'm guessing the other is In teal armour and a women, if so then that's Carolina, try threatening the others, tell them you'll break there legs, that seemed to work for Tex, oh and offer cookies to Caboose then he'll come" Church replied his voice slightly off over the comm.

"got it" she replied putting her helmet back to her hip everyone of the reds and blues including Tex and Carolina were staring at Ash there moths open.

"what did he just say" Tex asked

"who was that" Carolina asked

"that was our commander, Gunnery-Sargant Church" Ash said

"CHURCH!" the group shouted surprised

suddenly Church's voice came through Ash's helmet again. "Jesus Christ I heard that from here" and Ash smiled.

"He's alive?" Tucker said confused.

Suddenly Tex ran out the front door easily getting past wolfpack since they had gotten relaxed from all the talking, Church was walking towards Blue base his helmet off and sniper in hand, he didn't want caboose to get to close at least not yet, he spotted a black figure in the distance and they were getting closer, as they got closer he the figure take there helmet off, it was Tex, no doubt about it, before Church could think he felt her tackle into him sending him to the ground.

"what the hell you bitch" Church shouted looking into her green eyes, wow she had been given a new body.

Tex simply placed her lips against Church's kissing him, Church could feel his programming fighting for control to join in on the kiss and enjoy it, Church was loosing the fight but thankfully Ash stepped in, Church saw her kick Tex off of him and he got up quickly standing next to her.

"what the fuck do you think your doing you bitch" Ash shouted as Tex stood up and glared at Ash her fists clenched. "you ok Leo"

"yeah" Church smiled to himself as Ash took his hand in hers entangling her fingers with his. "I'm fine"

Tex stared at there hands confused and angry "what the hell!" she shouted

"stay the fuck back from by man" Ash spat angry

"your man?, he's my man" Tex said.

"no" Ash raised her and Church's hands. "he. Is mine"

"but" Tex looked at them both.

Suddenly Church was tacked again this time by a blue blur, Caboose was laying on top of Church his arms wrapped around him. "Church, I knew you would find me" he shouted

"get the fuck of of me caboose or I will kill you" Church replied Caboose slowly got up as the rest of the group got there.

"Church?" Tucker said looking at Church

"you were expecting someone else" Church said brushing off his armour smiling.

"but I though you were dead, I actually mourned you, which was weird and why did they said Gunnery-Sargent Church" he replied

"awww tucker I'm touched, and yeah that's me, I'm a Gunnery-Sargent now" Church replied.

"bullshit, Church was a shit leader" Tex spat now very angry

wolfpack moved close to her there weapons raised and cocked. "I don't suggest insulting the Gunny" Gav said

"and who the fuck are you" Tex asked her anger fully in control

"that is my best friend, his name is Gavin Jones, and if I were you I wouldn't piss him off" Church said smirking at Gav.

"hey Gunny can I shoot your Ex" Gav asked

"I really want to say yes but we need her, the director isn't gunna catch himself" Church replied and Tex smiled slightly

"if you say so" Gav replied lowering his weapon.

"dude is it really you, like really really you" Tucker asked

"yeah man, its me, in the flesh" Church replied smiling, rubbing his stubble covered cheeks

"how are you doing that any way, the hole flesh thing" tucker asked receiving questioning looks from wolfpack.

"what do you mean" Jason asked, raising an eye brow

"what you haven't told them, four years and you haven't told them" Tex asked, realising she now had leverage.

"Leo what are they talking about" Ash asked squeezing Church hand.

"nothing, its not important, lets just get these guys back to Excalibur and catch the director" Church said walking towards the pelican.

"dude we're still not coming" Grif said crossing his arms.

"fine, stay here and roast to death" church replied and smiled as the reds and blues ran towards the pelican.

Once they had all boarded the pelican and strapped in the pelican took off towards Excalibur.

"so, blue guy, is this your ship were going to" Sarge asked running a hand through his grey hair.

"well its the projects ship, its called Excalibur, but, it used to be called the mother of intervention" Church replied, looking at Carolina for her reaction.

"what, you mean the old freelancer ship, that's your ship now" Carolina asked, surprised.

"well, yeah, our project is, in essence a simpler and more effective version of project freelancer, no AI's no state names and less operatives" Church replied

"well not no AI" Tex grumbled and a few people looked at her.

"so how exactly are we gunna get the director, I mean its not like were gunna just walk up and ask him to come back to prison" Grif asked

"well I don't know yet, my first order of business was getting you useless piles of crap back to Excalibur, the, we'll get some more info on the directors whereabouts" Church replied smiling

"you better be talking about those idiots" Carolina said motioning to the reds and blues.

After disembarking Wolfpack left he pelican first getting salutes from the crew, the others amazed that people would salute Church, the group made there way to Wash's office ware Church hoped he would get some info on what would come next, it wasn't like the situation was getting any better, the group walked in and Wash turned around.

"Agent Washington" Caboose shouted smiling, beginning to run towards Wash.

"no, Caboose stay back please" Wash said and Caboose stopped running at him.

"Wash? what are you doing here" Carolina asked

"I'm this projects version of the director, boss" Wash replied receiving a smile from Carolina

"hello Texas" wash said rubbing his neck a bit

"what's wrong with your neck" Tex asked

"When Church found out I had been keeping the fact you were alive from him he, got kinda angry and picked me up by my collar" Wash said and Tex smiled inside.

"sorry by the way, I guess I was just mad" Church replied rubbing the back of his head

"don't mention it, seriously, I would be bad from my reputation" wash replied smiling, stopping rubbing his neck.

"pleas tell me you have something on the director" Gav asked, placing his hands on the desk.

"yes, we do, we have a location, he is currently on a covenant super carrier, from what we can tell the rebels are working with the covenant and for some reason they wanted the director" Wash seemed uneasy.

"what? I though the covenant hated humanity" Grif asked

"well, that was mainly the prophets, now its just the remnants of the covenant and they hate the U.N.S.C and since the rebels are, well rebels, they get along just fine" Wash replied, bringing up pictures of the rebel camps.

"oh, well that's just great, not only do we have to fight rebels but also the covenant army just fucking perfect" Church moaned rubbing his temples.

"well we cant just attack the super carrier, if we do we'll be taken out, this ship doesn't have that kind of fire power, so you'll have to get a phantom and infiltrate that way, but they will just call in reinforcements and you'll be killed so you'll have to take them out first, we have found a rebel base and collection of Covenant forces near the super carrier on a near by planet so you'll take them out first then attack the carrier" Wash stated showing pictures from a drone that showed a super carrier and a planet behind it.

"Wash these guys will be killed, no doubt, you know that" Carolina said motioning to the reds and blues.

"that's why wolfpack are gunna train them before you start" Wash replied

"I'm sorry Wash but remind me again, why do we even need them, they cant fight and they don't know that much about the old project" Church complained, looking at him pleadingly.

"sorry Church but the Chairmen says they will be a help" Wash replied "now get to your living quarters, the training will commence tomorrow"

"ugh" the group of sim troops groaned and turned following wolfpack.

Church stood there looking at Wash both of them worried. "you think this is a good idea Wash, I mean we can probably do it, but, is it worth the risk"

Wash looked down and sighed "I hope so Church, I hope so"

Church turned and walked out going to the locker room to think, Tex watched him from behind the corner slowly creeping out and following him using her stealth skills.

Ash walked into the living quarters and motioned to the empty bed, "you can sleep here"

"in the same room as girls" Simmons asked, slightly sweating.

"yes, is that a problem" Alana asked

"defiantly not" Tucker said his face covered with a massive grin

"its just like a huge slumber party" Sister shouted smiling and jumping on her bed.

"don't get any funny ideas, Gunny would kill you if you tried anything with his team" Junior said.

"Why do you keep calling him that" Tucker asked

"because he is our Gunnery-Sergeant, what else would we call him" Ash asked

"well you call him Leo" Carolina said

"well that's different" Ash replied

"I mean how could he even lead you, he cant fight, hell he isn't even human" Tucker replied, laying down on his bed

"what do you mean he isn't human, I'm pretty sure he is" Ash replied curious

"ugh Church-" Tucker began to speak but junior spoke first.

"just that Gunny had some issues when he was stationed with them, he didn't think he was a good person, he didn't think he was helping in the war the way he should" Junior stepped in trying to keep Church's secret hidden.

"what ever, Leo is human so just drop the subject ok, now get to unpacking" Ash commanded

"unpack what, we don't have anything, we just have this armour" Grif asked taking off the heavy chest plate.

"ugh, I hate you" Ash said speaking to the reds and blues.

~with Church~

Church sat in his normal place thinking about everything that had happened, first he and his team let the director escape then he gets attack-kissed by Tex then he gets told he has to fight a combination of covenant and rebels with his squad and the misfits, then to top it off, he had to try and train them, just great just fucking great, Church pulled out Tex's name tag and stroked the engraved letters, all this time he had been suppressing his feeling for Tex because he was in love with Ash, but now Tex is back and his programming is threatening to take over, he can feel the subroutine deep down constantly saying that he loved Tex, and church didn't deny it at least not to himself. He knew he loved her, but he loved Ash too, and right now he loved Ash more way more, but Church didn't know how long he could keep it that way, Tex kissing him didn't help.

"ugh" Church held the name tag letting a tear fall from his cheek. "what do I do Tex"

despite Church now knowing she was alive, he always though Tex had the answers, he had created her to take care of the things he couldn't handle, but now he could handle stuff, he could fight, even know he felt lost and thinking Tex knew what to do helped him.

"you really want my opinion, ditch the girl" Tex said surprising Church making him jump out of his seat hiding the name tag behind his back.

"Tex what, why are you here, you should be back with the others" Church replied, wandering how long she had been there.

"I saw you come this way and followed you" Tex replied, crossing her arms. "is that my name tag"

"yeah, it is, I used it to remember you" Church said taking it out again.

"so you do care" Tex asked sitting next to him.

"of course I care Tex, we're made to love each other we are programmed that way and I cant change that" Church replied rubbing his temples letting his head fall to his knees.

"why do you think its a bad thing, I...I love you" Tex replied placing a hand on Church's back.

Church stood up and moved to the other side of the room hitting his back on the lockers, "that's the problem Tex, iv found someone I love because I choose to, because I want to be with her, not because I'm programmed to love her, our love isn't real its...its computer generated, its fake"

Tex looked down then back up to Church "you...don't want to love me, do you"

"I'm sorry Tex, but no I don't, I love Ash and I want to spend the rest of my life with her" Church said smiling slightly.

"what's to stop me from telling them about what you really are hmm, what stopping me" Tex said slightly angry and slightly sad.

"the same thing that's keeping me from tell Carolina who you really are" Church said watching as Tex opened her mouth surprised.

"Church you cant, I don't want her to know, not yet, she isn't ready" Tex pleaded

"what are you worried she wont except that you area copy of her mother" Church asked raising an eye brow

"yes...I'm close to her, and I don't want to mess it up by telling her I'm her mother before she's ready, please Church" Tex pleased again.

"ok how about this, I wont tell Carolina who you are, and now I think about it I'm technically her farther but what ever, and in exchange you wont tell anyone I'm an AI and you'll tell the others not to tell...deal" Church asked crossing his arms.

"ugh" Tex looked at him smiling. "deal, now lets go see what there up to, I hope caboose hasn't killed anyone"

"ok, lets go"

Church and Tex walked out of the locker room and back to the living quarters, Tex took the reds and blues out side while Church went and sat on Ash's bad with her.

"why were you with Tex" Ash asked

"we had a little talk and we have come to an understanding" Church replied moving some red hair behind her ear.

"good, because I was ready to rip her head off when she kissed you" she replied hugging Church.

"Yeah and you would do it to" church replied hugging back receiving smiles from his squad.

Church and Ash parted and sat next to each other hands intertwined.

"ok Gunny, how are we gunna train them" Gav asked

"I'm thinking painfully" Ash said

"I like that idea, we'll put them through the training the Sarge gave us when we first got here" Church said grinning

"ok, lets do it"

* * *

**hey guys, extra long chapter, to make up for the shorter ones and the reds and blues are here with Carolina and Tex, don't worry I will explain why Carolina was there in the next chapter, please review, it helps with my confidence that people are liking what I'm writing, any ways Church out, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, here's another chapter, and just to clarify, Church's loves both Tex and Ash, but his love for Tex is his programming not, at least to him, real. That's why he wants to be with Ash, he feels its real and not fake.**

* * *

"We don't have to do anything to excessive do we" Grif moaned as everyone walked into the training room apart from Church and Tucker.

"Grif, lifting a pencil is excessive for you" Simmons said jogging past him.

"what ever kiss ass" Grif retorted stopping in the middle of the training room with everyone.

"ok, I'm almost afraid to ask this but do any of you know how to use hand-to-hand combat" Ash asked

"Carolina and Tex were trying to teach us when we were back in Blood Gulch" Grif said rubbing his back

"they used you as punching bags didn't they" Gav asked looking to Tex and Carolina.

"yeah" Sarge said looking down.

"ok well, first were gunna do some hand-to-hand then weapons, so lets get started shall we, how about a demonstration" Ash said

"I think that would be a great idea" Church said now standing behind Ash his helmet off, Ash jumped a bit surprised.

"Jesus you scared me, ugh, ok who will do the demonstration" Ash said tapping Church's shoulder taking off her helmet.

"ok I'll go against someone, how about Carolina" Church said smiling.

"what, you want you ass kicked Church" Carolina said putting her hand on her hip

"big talk, lets see of you can back it up" Church said putting his helmet on and moving to a free part of the room as Carolina followed.

"ok on the count of three start, the winner is either the one who is left standing or the one with the most connected punched by the end of the time limit" Ash said holding up her fingers. "one...two...three" Ash moved her hand down to start the fight.

Just as Ash said go, the song Timber started and everyone looked to the observation room to see tucker standing there a set of DJ headphones around his neck, "Tucker I said action song" Church yelled.

"sorry dude, Wash's Ipod is crap, let me take another look" Tucker replied

everyone looked to Church, all they saw was him rolling back away from a kick that Carolina had given, he jumped up and punched her in the back then kicked her in the side swinging his leg around, he then stood waiting for her to attack again, she turned surprised, she lifted her hands and moved forward ready to fight, as she got closer the chorus started on the song and she swung sending a punch towards Church's face, he blocked and sent back another punch which she blocked, this went of for around a minuet before Church moved forward head butting her sending her reeling back, Church used this to his advantage and kicked her in the stomach sending her to the floor winded, he stepped back as Ash counted down. "one...two...three. And your out" Church smiled and walked over to her and held out his hand. "your good" he stated

she stood up not taking his hand and walked over to the reds and blues. "what ever" she muttered.

"some ones a sore looser" Ash said grinning at Church

"ok how about this" Tucker said putting on back in black by AC/DC then walking down to the training room.

"ok, now you have seen what you need to do, get to it" Ash said, but everyone was still staring at Church

"what?" Church asked now standing next to Ash

"dude that was awesome" Tucker said walking down the stairs and next to the reds and blues.

"how?" Tex asked

"practice and a good teacher" Church said smiling. "now then, lets have-"

"I'm against Tex" Ash cut in and Church looked at her.

"are you sure" he asked

"defiantly" she replied cracking her knuckles

"ok then, it will be Junior verses Tucker, Carolina verses Alex, Alessa verses Sister, Alana verses Sarge, Jason verses Caboose, Gav verses Grif and Simmons verses me" Church said smiling at Simmons

Simmons gulped "m-me" he spluttered.

"no actually" everyone jumped as they heard Wash behind them, he wore his old grey and yellow armour his helmet off. "you didn't think I would miss this did you, I'm against Simmons, Church you can watch and laugh"

Church nodded and walked over to a bench to watch.

The next few hours went by and mostly consisted with the reds and blues getting there asses kicked, but Church wasn't paying attention to them, his attention was purely on Ash and Tex, while they had never met they fought in the same way, fast reflexes, strong attacks and make it up as they went along and because of this it was a very long and very hard fight, Tex hadn't lost her touch but Ash was good very good, Church watched as Ash jumped over Tex and flipped Tex over by grabbing her waist, but Tex just gets right back up ready to fight again, she is one stubborn bitch. Gav and Caboose's fight was interesting, Gav had skills but Caboose had tremendous strength, it was interesting to see this fight, of course Gav won, but he was winded after caboose got a few punches in.

Suddenly Ash flew through the air and hit Church both of them landing on the floor.

"what the hell!" Church shouted getting up helping Ash up.

"oh sorry Church, I guess you replacement isn't good enough to beat the original" Tex shouted at him.

"urrrr" Church muttered looking at Ash and then Tex

"Hey who are you calling a replacement" Ash shouted

Church smiled and held up his hand "don't worry Ash, I got this" Church began to walk forwards grinning as he put on his helmet.

"you wanna get your ass kicked to, all right then" Tex lifted her fists ready to start.

Suddenly the hole ship shook causing everyone to fall over there armoured body's making clanging noises as they hit the metal flooring, the door to the training room opened and a group of three walked in one in white mark IV armour, one in white and brown E.V.A armour and the last had dark purple with dark green details, the one in purple had two snipers which caught church's attention as he stood grabbing his sniper, the one in E.V.A had a brute shot which caused the reds and blues to shiver in there armour, finally the white guy, he had a sniper and was aiming at Church.

"oh you have got to be fucking kidding me!" Church shouted

"north? You alive?" Wash asked staring at the purple soldier

"you think my hot headed sister could really kill me" he replied

"but the meta is in a mental hospital" Jones said staring at the meta.

"Wyoming you died, hell I say you die" Church said looking at him.

"you didn't kill all me copy's mate"

the group stood staring at each other there visors locked on each other, then Carolina and Tex stepped forwards from behind Church and Wash, causing the meta and Wyoming to step back but north simply stood watching her.

"aren't you scared north?" Tex asked mockingly.

"nope, because now I know iv been lied to" he replied

no sooner had he spoken then had he turned and pointed his snipers at the other two men.

"north what are you doing?" Wyoming asked.

"trusting my gut".

Meta suddenly rushed North sending him flying to the other end of the training room, the meta then rushed Tex and Carolina with great velocity, he swung and was suddenly all hell broke loose with the reds/blues running for cover, well apart from Caboose who for some reason picked up a gun and started shooting randomly. **If he kills me again I am going to throw him out the air lock.** Church though as he ran towards Wyoming.

Church moved forwards firing at Wyoming his sniper rounds hitting his foot but not breaking his shields, Wyoming fired back missing and began running forwards as well, as they met in the centre they hit there snipers together almost using them like swords. (or light sabres).

"its been a long time mate" Wyoming said swinging his sniper hitting church's in the middle as church blocked the swing. "not long enough" church replied firing his sniper giving him extra force as he used the but of his sniper to smash Wyoming in the face causing him to falter.

Church smiled and stepped forward holding his sniper like a golf club. "fore...mate" Church shouted swinging the sniper sending Wyoming flying across the room. "hole in one" he muttered to himself smirking.

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and felt pain as he hit the floor a boot pressing on his chest, meta stood there Grif on his back for some reason rambling that the meta grunted like a bear, a shot of pain coursed through him as the meta pushed harder, Grif's attempts at stopping him seemingly pointless.

"HEY!" Cabooses voice filled the air and the tone sent a shiver down Church's spine.

The Meta stopped crushing Church's ribs and began to walk towards Caboose, everyone watched even Tex and Carolina didn't intervene, Church looked away for a second as Ash knelt down next to him looking him over, he looked back to see Meta take a swing at Caboose, what he saw shocked him, Caboose caught the Meta's punch in the palm of his hand and began to push causing the Meta to kneel and move back.

"Leave...my best friend...ALONE!" Caboose shouted before punching the Meta sending him across the room and out the door.

Church watched still shocked as Caboose walked over to him. "Church, Are you ok?"

"Y-yeah Caboose, I'm fine, umm, thank you" the words seemed foreign to Church, he had never said thank you to Caboose before.

"yay" Caboose hugged Church sending another shot of pain through him.

"owowowowowo, Caboose...let...go"

he did and Church breathed in, "that's better"

Church stood up with the help of Ash and Caboose, he then walked over to North who said clutching his arm.

"its broken I think" North muttered looking to Church.

"yeah, come on I need to get to the med bay anyway, we can talk and walk" Church motioned to the door.

"sounds good to me"

"good, hey Ash Caboose, you guys stay here, help clean up, get Wyoming and Meta tied up two" Church commanded

"got it" they replied and walked off.

Church and North then began to walk down the hall toward the med bay.

"so" North tried

"so" Church replied taking off his helmet quickly followed by north who did the same.

"its kinda creepy your name is Church, because the old director of project freelancer was called that" North began

"yeah, well I am the Alpha, I kinda inherited his name I guess" Church watched North's face for the reaction.

"wait what? Your the Alpha, you created Theta" North grabbed Church's arm stopping him.

"yes, I'm in a human body trying to lead a normal life after what happened but now I'm right back ware I started with all this freelancer horse shit"

"can you make theta again please...its been difficult without him"

"you two cared for each other I know, but I'm sorry, I cant just make him again, the only reason he was ever made was because the director tortured me until I fragmented my emotions off"

"right, yeah, sorry"

"don't mention it but I would like to know why you were with meta and Wyoming and why, after seeing Tex and Carolina you decided to switch sides"

"ok well, I was living a peaceful life away from all this, then this group of guys showed up along with the director, he said there was a new project freelancer and that they were trying to do what he had done, and they he wanted to stop them, so I agreed to help, then when I saw Carolina and Tex, well I knew right then he was lying, there was no way Tex would agree to do that to another AI and Carolina would never let it happen, so I came to the conclusion the director was bad and like really bad this time"

"yeah, he escaped from prison and is now working with the covenant and rebels we don't know what he's doing but it cant be good, so were gunna try and get him back to prison"

"oh, well ill help, I might as well try and make right on all the stuff I helped make wrong"

"good to know you not a bad guy North"

"good to know the copy of the director isn't an asshole"

"actually I am an asshole, I'm just not a war criminal, oh and don't tell anyone I'm an AI, my squad doesn't know"

"I can deal with that"

"good, because you don't get a choice"

the two chuckled and walked into the med bay and got patched up, Norths arm was healed along with Church's ribs, oh the wonders of medical tech, after being fixed up the pair returned to the training room to find Wyoming and Meta in cells and everyone standing around talking apart from Wash who was no ware to be seen.

After North explained everything he had begun chatting with Tex and Carolina while Church and Ash leant against a wall chatting, everyone else were just standing and chatting, but Wash was still missing.

"so you trust him?" Ash asked

"yeah, he was always a good guy, his sister on the other hand, not so much"

"ah I gotcha, so you said they all had AI fragments, what AI did he have"

"North had Theta, he was the scared and insecure AI fragment, he was put with North because they knew North would care for theta, he's a nice guy"

"seems that way"

the door slid open and Wash walked in a box in his hands

"ok everyone, come here a second"

The group moved over to wash making a semi circle around him, he opened the box and picked up a collection of chips with the old freelancer logo on it, they were the AI fragments.

"After hearing what North has said and the fact the director is trying to continue with his work, I think we need to even the odds a little"

as he spoke Delta appeared and looked at Church.

"hello Alpha it has been a long time since we spoke"

"delta?" Church asked.

"correct, I have been in storage ever since the meta was captured"

"why did he call you Alpha?" Ash asked

"it was ummm, just a nick name the AI had for me" church replied confidently.

"is Theta in storage too, is he ok" North asked worry and a hint of hope in his tone.

"I'm here North" the small figure of Theta appeared next to Delta

"Theta! your ok" North moved forward only inches from Theta's hologram.

"I'm so glad to see you, I didn't think I would ever see you again"

"me neither buddy" North looked up to Wash. "Wash you gotta let me have Theta, please"

"that's why he is here North, we need to get an edge on the director" Wash responded

"good" North replied.

"ok well, lets get this started then" Church said.

It had taken a while for the AI's to be implanted, mainly because Wash, Carolina, Tex, North and Church were bombarded with questions about the AI and what it would be like to have one in there head, but eventually it was finished and the AI were fully synced with there agents, the paring were North and Theta, Church and Delta, Iota with Alana, Eta with Alessa, and Epsilon with Wash.

"how you liking the new AI" Alessa asked

"I like it plus she is really nice" Alana replied

"thank you" Iota replied sitting on Alana's shoulder

"what was your attribute again" Alessa asked

"I was love, Eta was truth" Iota replied

"I see why they put you with Alana then" Alessa said smiling at her sister.

"shut up epsilon!" Wash shouted sitting on a bench rubbing his temples as Epsilon floated next to him.

"dude after all the shit you have been through how can you not drink, you deserve to drink more then everyone here" Epsilon exclaimed

"for the last time, I don't drink because I don't want to, not any more now drop it!" Wash replied putting his helmet on

"fine" Epsilon replied disappearing

"that Epsilon sounds so much like the Gunny" Alana said

"yeah your right" Alessa agreed.

Mean while Church sat down with North in the mess hall, Delta and Theta both sitting on there agents shoulders.

"is it strange for you to be around your umm fragments, they are your emotions" North asked

"it was strange at first but now its ok, when the Meta was disabled I just sat in his armour for a while chatting to the Fragments, Delta was the only one who tried to stop them merging with me, I think Theta was hiding in the corner of the meta armour"

"yeah that sounds like him"

"I was scared" Theta said looking at North

"I know buddy but its fine now" North replied

"he is right Theta, this project is not like the old one, this one is nicer, even the alpha has trust in its motives" Delta said his head bobbing up and down.

"oh yeah Delta, Theta can you tell the other AI not to tell my squad I'm the Alpha, I don't what them to know" Church said.

"yeah I was gunna ask what you thought about the new project" North asked

"well iv been with it since it started around four years ago, we just do jobs for the U.N.S.C when it needs help and the marines cant handle it" Church replied

"ah I got it, your like the back up when the shit really hits the fan"

"essentially"

* * *

~2 hours later~

"ok, the so everyone knows the plan right" Church's voice boomed across the large room

"I still don't like this" Tucker stated

"well I guess it sucks to be you because you still coming, now lets get a move on people"

the group moved into there pods, out of all the ways of getting onto the planet, they had to use pods, sure they were undetectable on radar so they couldn't be seen by the covalent or rebels, but that didn't change the fact that Church didn't like heights, he sat into this pod after clipping his sniper and pistol into their holsters, **it cant be that bad Church pull it together. **There was a sudden jolt as the pod detached from the ship, and then, he was falling, he could see his squads pods falling around him and smiled when his eyes met with Ash's pod, he looked down and saw the jungle that had been chosen for there landing zone, with a large and loud smack, Church's pod hit the group quickly followed by everyone else's.

As the pod opened Church took in his surroundings, the forest was thick and humid with monkeys and other animals jumping in the trees, birds chirped and a deer stood looking at Church, suddenly there was a loud crash and a squishing noise, as the dust cleared and Church's vision returned, he realised a pod now sat ware the deer once was, a leg and a blood splatter now around the pod.

"son of a bitch!"

Church looked at the pod as the door opened and Junior stepped out, he quickly got his sword and carbine out and walked over to Church.

"what's wrong ?" he asked

Church looked once more at the leg sticking out from under the pod. "ugh...noting, lets just find the others and get this shit started"

Church grabbed his pistol and sniper attaching them to his armoured body before he and Junior moved out into the forest.

"can you get a lock on the others D?" Church asked

"negative, the foliage and is to thick for your radar to work effectively also the covenant has jammers set up" Delta replied

"great" church replied

"follow me, I can smell, the horrid sent of my mother" Junior stated moving off to the left

"finally Tucker not washing is paying off"

the two moved off in the direction of tucker hopeful the others would be with him.

* * *

~the others~

the group was in a clearing about twenty by twenty meters wide, with their pods in the middle.

"did anyone see ware Leo's pod went down? Or juniors" Ash asked

"no idea, Theta can you get a lock" North asked

"no, I think there are some jammers" Theta replied

"dammit"

"well we have to find them before anything else" Jones stated

"maybe we should stay here, I'm sure they will find us" Grif suggested

"that actually isn't a bad idea, were wide open so church can see us, and hopefully he has Junior with him, and we all know how well he can track, maybe they will find us" Jason said

"yeah were wide open but doesn't that mean the covenant or Rebels could find us too" Simmons asked

"oh come one, what are the chances of that, our pods were clocked, there is no way they know were here" Tucker stated

"you know they could still have seen us if they looked up" North said.

"we must stay here, Church will fine me, he always finds me" Caboose added leaning against his pod.

"I guess that means were staying here, ok I want everyone set up in positions around the pods, I want this hole clearing to have someone eyes on it, I don't what any surprises" Ash began

"and who out you in charge" Tex asked annoyed

"me and Jones are Leo's second in command, if he isn't here then were in charge, that's how it works" she replied

"what ever" Tex hissed walking to the other side of the clearing with Carolina and most of the red and blues.

Only Caboose and tucker staying with wolfpack, they sat in a defensive semicircle around the clearing but still able to see each other.

"so, I don't see what the Gunny ever saw in her" Alessa said over the mic to wolfpack and Tucker and Caboose.

"me either" Alana replied

"there is more then meets the eye with Tex" North interjected

"like what?" Ash asked

"urrrrr"

"she gets better the more you get to know her" Tucker said

"I doubt that" Ash replied

"well of course she is going to hate you, you stole Church from her" Tucker stated

"I didn't steal him, one, he though she was dead, secondly he asked me out first" Ash replied slightly annoyed

"hey I'm just saying, in Tex's eyes you stole Church from her" he replied

"I though they weren't dating anyway" Ash replied

"yeah, from what I could tell it was a complicated relationship" Tucker stated

"you can say that again" Theta said instantly covering his holographic helmet with his hands like it was a mouth.

"what do you mean?" Jason asked

suddenly there was a soft thud that echoed around the clearing causing wolfpack to snap their heading in its direction, their eyes met the angry eyes of a covenant army, well a large amount of soldier with a tank, they must have been clocked until they wanted to be seen, thou how they got the tank so close with out alerting the squad was a mystery, the covenant surrounded wolfpack along with the reds and blues, and they were slowly moving closer, a brute chieftain with a grav hammer stood in front, taking large steps toward Ash.

"as...shit!"

* * *

**hey guys, please review it always helps, sorry for the late update, iv been spending to much time chatting to friends, (you know how you are!), but i will be updating more frequently again! i hope you enjoy also, Bella and myself will be co-writing a fanfic together, it will be on the account called "what happened to Georgia" please take a look, the story will be released soon :), it is set in Church and Carolina's travels, while the red and blues are stuck on Korus (season 11) anyways Church out **


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